unKnown
by DiamondKing12
Summary: Time is like a river.  It flows like a river, can be fought against, can be redirected.  It can be changed, with a purpose in mind, but the effects of this change may create ripples both unexpected and unseen.  AU, original character-centric.
1. Prologue

**_Time is like a river. It flows in one direction, but it isn't impossible to swim against it. And just like a river, when a pebble is dropped in, it makes a ripple; noticeable at first, this ripple is immaterial in the long run. However, a river can also be redirected, its course can be changed, its purpose altered. And, not unlike a river, when time is redirected it may have unforeseen (and unseen) repercussions. Someone lives longer than what they should have, someone dies when they should have lived. Great works that would have revolutionized mankind are never thought of, tyrants that should not have been born are. _**

**_Manipulating time is not only delicate; it is foolhardy. It is something that only should not be done, but something that could not be done. Time is fluid, time always moves forward, time…is strange. Yet somehow, when the conditions are right, a way is found, and things change, for better or for worse. _**

_**Whenever changing time, it is impossible for one to guess just how deep an impact is made. Sometimes, when changing time, the river opens into an ocean of possibilities. Sometimes…**_

When the explosion happened, Gabriel felt it before he seen it. The crushing pressure squeezed him like a grape. And like a grape, he worried that he would pop. Instead, he was gifted with a flash of blue before total darkness consumed him and numbed the pain.

**_Sometimes, paths that never would have crossed become entwined. Sometimes fates are changed, sometimes destinies are born, and sometimes…_**

When he finally came to, Gabriel could feel every single injury. Shatter bones attempting to mend, internal bleeding that tried to stop itself, dislocated should that was begging to be set. He could feel_ something_ impaled through his abdomen, he could feel shrapnel digging into what felt to be every single portion of his body, he could feel himself slowly bleeding…yet, his heart stubbornly went on.

He gasped for breath and tried to move, but found it to be impossible. He must have made a sound, because he could hear something approaching. Voices, lights…it all sounded muffled, as if he was underwater.

"Hey! There's another one over here! Hurry, let's get some light over here!"

Brilliant light shined on him; this time he could_ feel_ himself groan with pain.

"Holy Jesus, how is this guy still alive? Look at him! Should we…"

"Come on, let's get this debris off of him; if he's tough enough to live this long without dying, then obviously he's meant to live."

**…_sometimes potential that would not have been realized becomes uncovered. _**

_**unKnown**_

_Another Side, Another Story_

**Day 5**

_When I was found, I was knocking on death's door and asking to borrow a cup of sugar. The fact that I hadn't died yet was amazing, but my astounding feat of survival paled in comparison to how swiftly I recovered. Three days after the Blast my critical injuries had stabilized, four days post Blast my bones were mostly healed, and by day five…I was sitting up and able to eat. Sure, my food (what food they could spare) had to be processed, but I was alive, though at the time I was wondering if that was such a good thing._

**_-OoOoOoO-_**

Gabriel stared blankly at the small television screen. Some brilliant display of colors and shapes were swimming in intricate designs and with expert timing. He honestly wasn't sure of what was being advertised and was just barely aware of the television.

An explosion had decimated the city. Sure, it only destroyed six city blocks (_only destroyed six blocks_) and _only_ ended a couple hundred (_or was it a couple thousand?_) lives, and while technically Empire city was still standing, things were in a state of chaos, or something like it. They were calling it a terrorist attack.

A _terrorist_ attack.

Gabriel was only lucky that he had moved to Empire city and that he wasn't born there; his family lived elsewhere, he had very few friends, only some college associates really. Classmates…but no friends. No one close to him died, so he lucked out that way…

And in other ways. He looked down at his right arm; it was nearly fully healed. Hell, _he_ was nearly completely healed. Just looking at him, one couldn't have been able to guess that both arms were completely shattered, that ten out of twelve ribs were broken, that his left lung had collapsed, that he had a metal spike impaled through his abdomen, that his legs were…well, he could go on and on, really, he could. There was no reason why he should have been alive, let alone healed as swiftly as he had.

He could hear the doctors and the nurses whispering. He could remember waking up yesterday in the hospital bed…

_**-OoOoOoO-**_

_**Yesterday...**_

_When Gabriel opened his eyes, he immediately closed them. The light was too bright. For a brief second, the small portion of his psyche that believed in an afterlife thought that he had died and went to heaven, but he quickly corrected himself; apparently, heaven didn't accept his type._

_Gabriel tried opening his eyes again; it didn't hurt so much this time. He could see a man standing before him; white coat that wasn't so pristine. Blood and other fluids had stained it, something black had made it dingy. The man looked as if he hadn't had much of any sleep for the past couple of days._

_"Hello, Mister Godwin. Glad to see you…awake." Gabriel, despite having just awakening, was astute enough to notice the odd inflection in the man's voice and the way he was staring at him. It was something akin to disbelief, confusion, and fear, all shoved behind the veneer of professionalism._

_The nurse that stood behind the doctor wasn't quite so good at hiding his own disbelief._

_"Why…are you…staring at me like…that?" he asked; a stranger's voice came out of his throat. One that was too rough, too phlegmy to be his._

_"There was an explosion, Mister Godwin. It was detonated at the base of the Empire Building. When you were brought here, your initial injuries suggested that you were…uh…quite close to the blast. The only way we were able to identify you were by dental records, and that wasn't until two days ago. Of those rescued from the blast, only a few survived. Of those rescued from ground zero, only two cases that I know of survived. And in about ten seconds, you are about to be the only survivor from ground zero."_

_Gabriel suddenly became aware of the arrhythmic beeping of a heart monitor. He looked over at the curtain that separated him from the other unfortunate soul that shared his room. When the heart monitor's rhythm finally flatline he heard a wail of the deepest sorrow that a human seemed capable of feeling._

_Gabriel felt a stab of jealousy, that that person had someone to mourn them, and a second later he felt utterly terrible; he not only survived being at ground zero, but he was healing at a freakishly quick rate. He estimated that in a few more days he'd probably heal to the point that one wouldn't even know that he was at ground zero._

_Gabriel could feel his breathing increase as he felt panic starting to rise. He clenched his eyes shut. 'I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration…'_

_"So…what does that make me?" he asked finally, having felt his fear subside._

_"That makes you the luckiest bastard alive."_

_"No…I mean…am I human?"_

_"I don't know."_

_**-OoOoOoO-**_

Who knew three words could carry so much weight. Since then, Gabriel didn't sleep and hardly ate. He didn't know what to think, except that he should probably leave soon. Sure, he was still a little weak, but there were needier people than him.

Gabriel didn't notice immediately when someone walked into his room. At first he thought it was a nurse sent to check in on him, but when no one spoke he looked away from the television screen and found himself looking at a surprised young man.

He was tall, somewhat built, somewhat handsome features in a plain sort of way. His complexion and facial structure was something Gabriel would have called Middle Eastern-ish, but otherwise typical American style of dress, haircut, and body language.

"Hello?" he ventured, when the man continued to stare.

"Uh…damn. Wasn't expecting…you…to be…so…healed. When I first saw you, you were…" the guy's words petered off when he noticed Gabriel's confused expression. "Sorry, I'm Amir Farran…I was on the volunteer rescue crew that…uh, rescued you."

"And…you were the one to find me?" asked Gabriel. Amir paused for a second before he nodded and grinned a little uncertainly.

"Yeah, I was. It's good to see you healed, if not a little…strange."

"No less strange for me than it is for anyone else," replied Gabriel, frowning a little as he looked away, thinking of all the looks he got. Some were wary; others were outright hostile, though more than a few were curious.

An awkward silence dropped between the two.

"I hope that you don't take this wrong way, but I'm really glad that you've recovered as well as you did. We found a lot of people that day. Most were dead. Those who lived were in a bad state…you were one of the worst. But…you're alive. So, I'm glad that I found you, because…" again Amir's sentence petered off and he rubbed the back of his neck; a nervous gesture. Gabriel looked back at Amir and felt his opinion of the man soften.

"I'm glad that you found me, too," he replied, sincerely. Amir looked up with a small smile and for the first time since awakening Gabriel felt normal.

"Hey, since you're awake and well, I was wondering if you'd like to go to the memorial service that they're having today. It's over at the park. You know…maybe it'd give you some kind of closure?"

At first Gabriel felt annoyance and then a little angry; he didn't _need_ closure. He was perfectly fine; he didn't lose anyone in the blast and even though he was on his way to having tea time with Death, he had a recovery that was nothing _short_ of miraculous. He had nothing to resolve.

His inner thoughts must have been betrayed by his face, because he noticed Amir's own expression dropping.

"I mean, I know it's an awkward thing to ask, but…"

"I'll go." At first Gabriel couldn't imagine what inspired his response, but a few seconds of thought gave him some insight. Seeing Amir's expression made him realize that the man was reaching out. He was just as scared as anyone else in this crazy situation. For one reason or another, he was latching onto him as some kind of anchor. Amir was reaching out, one human to another. Who would he be to deny him some kind of connection that he obviously felt that he needed?

"Ok. Well…I'll go, let you get ready." Amir smiled a little and left the room. Gabriel watched him go and realized that it wasn't just Amir that was reaching…he was reaching out as well. He was lost and confused, just like everyone else in the city torn asunder.

**_-OoOoOoO-_**

**A/N**:

So, welcome to one of my first attempts at a fanfic. Hope I do well. Anywho, this fic is AU-ish in the fact that this story, primarily, takes place from the point of view from another conduit who realized their abilities via the Blast. I felt that more people would have realized their abilities (aside from those in the gangs), so this is my attempt at showing this. In all honesty, the only thing that I think may change from the main storyline that we're all familiar with is the fact that there will be a few new faces, however Cole's story is still his story and is still happening simultaneously with the events of this story. But hey, isn't that the magic of fanfiction?

With that said, some housekeeping announcements to make:

Ok, so I feel the need to point out that very few people survived at ground zero; when the doctor says that "only two people survived," he wasn't referring to Cole simply because he wasn't aware of Cole being at Ground Zero. With the city in disarray and communications down (or so I imagine they would be) I doubt that hospital records would be the most accurate right now, so…yeah. With that said, the only reason why the doctor was able to identify Gabriel via dental records is because that hospital happens to be the one that Gabriel frequented the most, thus they had his records there...(which is just a fancy way of me trying to explain a possible plot-hole).

And, I should mention that yes, Gabriel is gay and that there may be homosexual relations, **however** this, in no way, shape, or form, includes Cole. AT ALL. **No crack pairings**, alright? This will be a crack-free fic.

Also, the "Empire Building" mentioned here isn't meant to confuse people and think New York, but my train of logic is this: the game takes place in a city called 'Empire City'; it _has_ to have a building called the Empire Building.

With all of that said, this is a work in progress, so bear with me please! Worry not; the fic will be finished, it just may take some time.


	2. Discovery

**_Chapter 1_**

_Discovery_

**_OoOoOoO_**

_After Amir left, I felt it was a little odd that he invited me to go to some mass funeral service. But, the more I thought about it, the more I figured that it would give me some kind of closure. I realized that I felt guilty for surviving, for some reason. I didn't do anything to hurt anyone else's chances of survival, but still…survivor's guilt gnawed at me._

_As it turned out, even though I was healing well, I was still weak enough to require a wheelchair. I signed myself out and the hospital gave me a wheelchair that Amir was all too happy to push for me. The guy seemed a little odd, to be honest, but this whole situation was strange and I suppose everyone had to cope in their own way._

* * *

"So," started Amir as he wheeled Gabriel down the street, "tell me about your life. Before the…you know."

Gabriel was busy examining the streets. There weren't too many people out, despite it being mid-afternoon. Many people were understandably scared and unwilling to leave their homes. Or were in hospitals. Or dead. Gabriel glanced down a darkened alleyway that they passed and noticed a few dark figures loitering about. He didn't like the sight of that. He realized that they didn't watch Amir and him; they were leering. Would-be predators in waiting. While the Historic district wasn't exactly a paragon of safety, it was better than the Neon and a heck of a lot better than the Warren, however to see such open animosity...things were going to get worse before they got better.

It wasn't just the occasional undesirables that he spotted. Broken store windows (likely the result of looting), fresh looking graffiti, cars without windows and without tires, debris in the street…it looked like society had fallen apart and he missed the party.

"Psych student at the university," replied the brown-skinned male, somewhat belatedly answering Amir's question. "Working to get my Master's. You?"

"EMT."

"Ah, well, that explains it."

"Huh? Explains what?" asked Amir, hazarding a confused look at Gabriel before he glanced both ways and proceeding to cross the street.

"Why you volunteered to rescue people; it takes a special kind of crazy to do that. Though, I'm curious as to why you felt the needed to volunteer, since you're already in the business of rescuing people. Isn't that a bit…redundant?" asked Gabriel.

"Yeah, I guess it would seem that way. I mean, I was technically on vacation time, but I couldn't just sit by and do nothing…"

Gabriel raised an eyebrow, looking up at Amir with a dubious expression, "You mean to tell me that you took a vacation but didn't leave Empire City?"

"Well, funny thing, that. I was actually going to leave but…uh, plans didn't work out exactly." Gabriel nodded; he decided not to push the issue, since the chances of it being a personal thing was high. This was already a strange situation, no need to go and make it awkward.

"That sucks. You could have been somewhere else, having the time of your life, but you're stuck here now."

"Yeah, but then I wouldn't have found you, so, as far as I'm concerned I think my time was better spent here."

Gabriel frowned and felt guilty; the more he thought about it, the more he wondered how well he would have done had Amir not found him. Would he have still healed? It seemed like a very real likelihood, but would his ability to heal have been stunted by being in the position that injured him in the first place? Or would he have healed anyways? Would Amir have found someone more deserving to be rescued?

Why did he even have the ability to heal in the first place?

The two lapsed into a sort of silence. It wasn't true silence, since the city was noisy in its hushed way. Somewhere there was the shattering of glass and a cacophony of voices. Somewhere else there was a shout of surprise or outrage.

Gabriel looked up at a building and noticed a few dark figures standing atop. The sunlight glinted on the goggles of their masked faces. "What…who are they?" asked Gabriel before he realized what he was saying.

"Hmm?" asked Amir, looking in the direction that Gabriel was. Seeing the masked figures, Amir frowned. "Ahh, I don't know actually. Definitely not the National Guard, definitely not part of the armed forces either. They showed up yesterday. They haven't really done anything, but taken control of a large part of the area. They keep the gangs at bay, which is nice, I guess. The Neon and the Warren aren't so lucky. I hear that gangs are running rampant there…"

Gabriel noted the slight tremor of worry in his companion's voice and nodded thoughtfully before falling silent, feeling a little tired. He remained quiet until he noticed Amir turning into the park.

"Um, what…?"

"The dead we found…we're burying them in the park."

"Oh." Gabriel fell silent as Amir walked to the place where the funeral was to be held. It didn't take long before they spotted the large crowd. Gabriel grew increasingly uncomfortable as they approached the group. Seeing the somber crowd was making this situation seem more…_real_ all of a sudden. The looted buildings and cars didn't do it, the presence of some strange group of men didn't do it, hell, even the explosion seemed like a bad dream, however seeing the group of people, somber in their silence, was like having ice water splashed on him.

Amir didn't push through the crowd yet somehow the two found themselves towards the front of the assembly. Gabriel stared at the freshly dug graves and improvised headstones, even as the priest emerged and gave the eulogy for, perhaps, the largest funeral service in city history. The old man did a good job of keeping the sermon pretty non-denominational, considering he had to represent a large number of religions (and lack thereof). Gabriel was impressed.

"Now is not the time to ask why. Things happen in life that we cannot begin to understand. All of this has happened for a reason, even if that reason isn't known to us, we owe it to ourselves to take the time to grieve, to cry, and mourn our losses, and to find meaning in this chaos that we find ourselves in."

Gabriel looked up when he felt Amir lay a hand on his shoulder; the man wasn't looking at him, but staring straight ahead. Gabriel wondered, for a moment, what family Amir had and if they survived the Blast. Maybe he had lost someone and couldn't face the funeral alone? Maybe…well, speculation wouldn't do him any good, but he did feel bad for not considering it sooner. He hadn't even asked Amir about it. Then again, he doubted that he would have asked the paramedic about it, even if it had occurred to him to do so. Not now…the pain would still be too fresh.

The sermon ended before Gabriel had even realized. He didn't see anyone move to leave and realized that someone else was moving forward to take the priest's place. She was a young black woman and looked a few seconds away from breaking down, but she swallowed her nerves and opened her mouth and began to sing.

"_**Smile, when your heart is aching,**_

_**Smile, even though its breaking**_

_**When there are clouds in the sky**_

_**You'll get by**_

_**If you smile with your fear and sorrow**_

_**Smile, and maybe tomorrow,**_

_**You'll find that your life is still worthwhile**_

_**if you just…"**_

It was a beautiful song sung with a beautiful voice. At this point, point people were weeping, mourning their dead. Gabriel closed his eyes; it was a beautiful day, too. Perfect weather for…a funeral. Gabriel frowned at his own odd thoughts and wondered why he was so bothered. He wondered why he was there, at the funeral being held for people that he probably didn't even know.

'_It's almost as if I'm gloating…I'm alive and you aren't…' _he thought, looking down on the freshly dug graves; it wasn't true, however sometimes the truth had a way of evading people. Some part of Gabriel realized that he was just punishing himself, that perhaps this was his own way of grieving. His thoughts were interrupted by the person next to him breaking out in a series of ragged coughs.

Gabriel glanced at the woman before he looked back at the soloist. He rested his chin in the palm of his hand and gingerly crossed his legs, trying to coax a little more comfort out of the unyielding wheelchair.

The woman coughed again, this time the cough sounding wet and painful. After that, she promptly fell over.

People murmured in surprise and concern. Amir was at the woman's side, trying to stop people from crowding while a man knelt next to her, calling the woman's name. Gabriel snorted and closed his eyes.

"No point in getting worked up. There's nothing that we can—" That's when he felt it. Something, stirring within him. It was small at first, like a barely noticeable urge but then said urge grew into an itch, which grew into a burning. Gabriel gasped.

He had to touch her.

Gabriel didn't know why but the burning wouldn't let him argue. Gabriel pulled himself out of his chair and stumbled towards the woman. His legs still weak, he ended up falling to his knees and crawling the rest of the way. At this point Amir had knelt next to the woman and was taking her vitals. He looked up when Gabriel crawled over.

"Gabriel, what are you doing?"

Gabriel didn't answer. Instead, he placed his hand on the woman's forehead; said hand became encased in a warm green energy. His other hand was placed just at the base of the woman's ribs and likewise began to glow. Yes, that felt about right.

"Your lungs…slightly damaged in the explosion, or so I imagine…" muttered Gabriel, his eyes seeing things that others could not. Well, 'seeing' was the wrong term; it was as if his mind was being filled with information. Current health, current injuries, recent injuries. Right now he knew that there was some damage to her lungs, a hairline fracture on her right thigh, some internal bleeding, and she was a few weeks pregnant.

He closed his eyes and had a feeling of release; a warmth flowed from within him, through his arms and hands, and into her. The damage to the lungs was healed, as well as the fracture. The bleeding inside was stopped. The fetus was fine.

After the healing was complete, the flow of warmth cut off and he sat back, clutching his head as a migraine suddenly bloomed into reality, swiftly followed by an all engulfing iciness. Amir was suddenly at his side; a spicy scent hit Gabriel's nose and the other man's proximity brought with it a welcomed warmth. It seemed to fight off the chill that not even the sun could dispel.

"Holy shit! Gabriel, what did you do!" hissed Amir, looking Gabriel over, as if concerned. Gabriel slowly opened his eyes and silently stared at Amir, honestly too surprised to reply.

"He…healed me…" said the woman as her companion helped her to sit up. She took a demonstrative deep breath and released it with a pleased sigh; she looked over at Gabriel and smiled warmly. "He healed me."

Amir couldn't get Gabriel out of the park fast enough; it seemed as if half the people were scared of Gabriel, while the other half wanted him to heal them or to heal some friend or family member that knew that needed help. Amir got Gabriel back into the wheelchair relatively quickly enough (by carrying him, much to Gabriel's chagrin) and rushed through the crowd, ignoring the pleading voices, the imploring eyes driven mad with desperation and hope, the grasping hands.

"Please, my daughter, she—"

"—you have to heal my—"

"It's a miracle! A miracle! Please, you _must_ help…"

"God has sent us an angel!"

Gabriel watched and heard all of this in a state of what could only be described as shock. The surprise enabled him to watch the situation from a certain distance. His mind kept returning to the moment right before he healed the woman. His body had reacted to her falling over…as if, it was somehow _anticipating_ the healing. When he touched her, he felt really connected to her, and when he actually healed her, well, that chilliness was unexpected, as was the headache. The chilliness had faded slightly and, with time, Gabriel figured that it would fade completely. It was still strange, however.

"Gabriel, can you hear me?"

Gabriel blinked and found himself staring into a pair of concerned hazel eyes. Gabriel blinked again and examined Amir silently. "I'm sorry," he said after a few seconds. "I must have slipped into my own thoughts." He glanced around and noticed that they had stopped in some back alley. It was empty, for now.

"I asked if you can explain…what happened back there? That wasn't normal; people don't just _heal_ other people suddenly."

"Well certain faiths believe differently, that by laying hands on people and having enough faith, God would channel his energy through the one praying and heal the person being prayed for. I guess I found one way to make my parents proud of me; 'Hey mom and dad! Sorry you're disappointed in me, but hey look, I have healing hands just like Jesus!' or better yet, maybe this is all just a dream fueled by too much sugar, television, and watching my brother play D&D when I was young. Maybe I'm a level two paladin with the 'lay on hands' ability, huh?"

"Gabriel, I'm being serious," replied Amir, though the slightest hint of a suppressed grin suggested some amusement on his part. Gabriel was a little surprised, since that wasn't his intent; however he felt that either explanation made just as much sense as anything else. Admittedly, he was out of his depth, however seeing Amir's suppressed smile somehow made him feel just a little bit better, a little more…_human_.

"Yeah, well, I am too. I agree; this sort of thing isn't normal. I mean, I never had any illusions of normalcy, but I never did anything this strange before…" Gabriel's eyes widened ever so slightly, "…before the Blast." Logic suggested that the simplest answer was often the correct answer. He'd never demonstrated oddities as a child, yet now all of a sudden a blast occurs and now he can heal himself and apparently others.

Logic also suggested that this likely wasn't a 'mundane' explosion by any means. An explosion didn't just give people abilities, or else Japan would likely have a whole slew of super-powered individuals at this point and instead of killing people the Chernobyl incident would have given the city's citizens abilities instead of radiation poisoning. Hell, if this was some terrorist attack, this development wouldn't have happened. No, it wasn't the explosion…it was _what_ exploded that made the difference.

'_Ugh…super-powers? Is that an idea that I'm really willing to invest in?' _he asked himself, frowning. Sure, comics and such were nice for entertainment, but this was reality. Such things didn't exist in reality…until now? Gabriel thought back to the recent incident in the park-cum-cemetery. _'Then again, this is less about what I'm willing to believe and what is actuality; I really did survive horribly crippling damage that should have immobilized me for life, if not killed me. I healed a woman in the park a few minutes ago…this is real.'_

"If you ask me, people killing other people without regard isn't normal…" uttered Amir, soberly, bringing Gabriel to the present once more. Gabriel looked up at the other male, but couldn't find anything to say, partially due to the fact that his mind was still on his thoughts, partially because Amir's sincerity was heartening. "But," continued Amir, looking down at Gabriel with a grim look, "I have to agree. Things after the Blast certainly are…different, somehow. I mean, I've never lived in a situation like this, so it could be shock for all I know, but the presence of those strange men, right after the Blast doesn't really make sense. They aren't in any branch of military that I'm aware of…I mean, they definitely aren't a special operations team or anything. No emblems, no insignias…" Amir sighed, "And don't get me started on the city. Riots, especially after the quarantine was placed into effect. No power. A plague is breaking out in the Neon. No one knows what's going on…it's an ugly situation, overall."

Silence fell between the two males. Gabriel was still at a loss for words; his mind was busy trying to puzzle out the situation.

"Do you live around here?" asked Amir. "Or, did you commute from the Neon or the Warren?"

"Um, no. I lived…live here. On the corner of Fifth and Park Ave."

Amir looked thoughtful for a few seconds before his face lit with recognition. "Ah, yeah, near the docks, right?"

Gabriel nodded slowly. "Yup. That would be the place."

"Cool. I live near there myself."

The rest of the walk was spent in relative silence, the only exception being Gabriel occasionally speaking of to give Amir a direction or a small shortcut. Before he knew it, Gabriel was looking up at his apartment building. He gingerly stood from the wheelchair, feeling exhausted, even though he'd spent most of the day sitting.

He turned to face Amir and tried to conjure a smile and did manage a small one. "Thank you. For finding me. For today. For being…" Gabriel left the sentence unfinished. He had the odd suspicion that he was going to finish that sentence with the word "human".

Amir smiled and it seemed to come so easily to him. "No problem, Gabriel. I'm glad that I found you. And…thank you for coming along with me, today." Again, there was something about Amir that was so sincere that it caught Gabriel off-guard. Gabriel blinked and looked away. "Well, I'm going to go. I actually just live like a block down, make a right, and about two blocks down, near the tracks a little. You know, in case you ever want to…do, whatever. Apartment 47."

Gabriel looked back at Amir and nodded silently. "Alright. Well, bye."

"Yeah…bye." And with that Amir turned and started walking down the street, still pushing the empty wheel-chair. He paused before he even took two steps and turned back to face Gabriel. "You know…this is a really fucked up situation. I mean, seriously; there's nothing normal about it…not even you. But, I really am glad that I found you because, for some reason finding you gave me hope. I don't know why; you were severely injured, no one else thought that you would live, but finding you was such a relief. I saw so many die that day and I really just wanted, no, _needed_ for you to be ok, because it would have eaten me alive to see nothing but death, death, death. I put so much faith and hope in your recovery, despite your chances being less than slim. And now you're not only better than ok, but you're _healing_ people. I know, it's a strange thing to say, but strange comments in a strange situation are actually normal, you know?"

Gabriel, in spite of himself, found a smile forming his features. It was a small smile, but more sincere than his forced one. "Yeah, I think I understand."

Apparently that was answer enough for Amir, because he smiled again. "See you around, Gabriel." The man turned and continued walking down the street. Gabriel watched him a few seconds longer before he entered the silent apartment building.

* * *

**A/N:**

Another chapter up. It wasn't as long as I had planned, but in all honesty this chapter really just feels like part two of the first one, so no worries.

A few things should be explained, I think. The song mentioned in this chapter is called _Smile_. Mainly known for being performed by Michael Jackson, but not a song of 'his', if that makes sense.

1) I could be wrong, but I think that the plague outbreak is only taking place in the Neon, as a result of Sasha. I felt the need to point this out because originally I was going to have the plague infected attack the funeral to get Gabriel to showcase some of his abilities, but I realized this fact early on and changed things (and really, I think what happens here works out for the best).

2) For a city that's rioting, things seem pretty calm in the Historic District, huh? I figured that, of the sections, the Warren would have had the worst rioting, followed by the Neon, and finally the Historic District. As Amir explains, this is likely due to the presence of the First Sons.

3) I realize that there's the potential for two timelines to occur here, and I'm not talking about time travel, but how days are measured. There's measuring time based on the Blast and time based on the quarantine (which occurs two days post-Blast). This honestly isn't going to be an issue in the grand scheme of things, however I thought that it was interesting that when first starting the game, it's Day 14 since the _quarantine_, not since the Blast; for those who are curious enough to care, Gabriel is measuring time post-_Blast_. The quarantine begins on the third day after the blast. Like stated before, in the grand scheme of things this may not matter much, however for the purposes of this story, time is being measured post Blast.

4) And, finally, as Chiharu-Chan pointed out, I love italics. I never really realized this until recently, so…I'll do my best to cut down on italics or at least ensure that people are aware of what I mean. So…

"This" is plain speech.

'_This'_ is thought.

When used in a sentence or statement, _this _is for emphasis.

And finally, review replies!

**Chiharu-Chan**: First, I would type all of your name, but its long. But, aside from that, thanks for giving my story its VERY FIRST REVIEW! Seriously, that made me smile, thanks! I'm glad that you're enjoying it thus far, and personally I feel that Cole x anyone-not-Trish is a bit iffy. Not because I'm a die-hard rabid shipper, but because logically, Cole loved this woman enough that, had things continued unchanged he would have married her. So, I honestly can't see Cole just getting with someone else…not within the bounds of the story that the first game takes place in, anyways. Sorry for the italics being so confusing; I'll definitely work on fixing that to make it easier to read and I really hope that things were a little easier to read this time.


	3. Sacrifice

_**Chapter 2**_

_The Weight of Sacrifice_

**_OoOoOoO_**

_For the next three days I restricted myself to my apartment. Not out of fear, but out of necessity. I relived that moment in the park over and over again. Over and over again, replying the sensations that I felt before healing that woman, during, and afterward. Eventually, I came upon a few theories, but only one made some kind of sense. I broke out my old biology book and re-familiarized myself with a few principles._

_And then, like any good scientist, I experimented._

_A few class mates had bought a white rat for me my senior year as an undergrad. It was a sort of gag gift and they already took the liberty of naming the rat Sniffy. I grew to like the rodent, eventually, and it became a welcome companion to ward off my loneliness. I was glad that he survived the Blast, however, like so many of his cousins, he soon found himself being a test subject._

_In three days I tested theory after theory. It soon became apparent that I could control most, if not all things concerning the body. Healing was just the beginning, it seemed. I could alter things from skin/fur color, to eyesight, hearing, sensation, on the third day I moved from testing Sniffy to testing myself. By focusing I could enhance myself. My eyesight was never bad, but I made it better. I was in alright shape, being on the healthier side of skinny, however I felt myself becoming healthier, stronger, faster, more agile. I was…amazing. I could manipulate biomass, or so it seemed. Its as if I have some kind of...life-force manipulation or something._

_In any event, I'm sure Sniffy was happy once I finished using him to test my abilities. I gave him some extra food as an apology._

* * *

**_Day 9_**

Gabriel narrowed his eyes and tried to focus on the words. Eventually he sighed and tossed the book down onto the gravel floor of the rooftop and looked at his watch. One thirty in the afternoon.

"Reading for five hours in one sitting; I _never_ studied this well in school," he muttered. The statement naturally reminded him that classes were canceled, indefinitely. Between the Blast and the Quarantine, the last thing on anyone's mind was education, naturally.

Gabriel looked around the expansive rooftop that he was slowly starting to think of as his; he already managed to move a few chairs and a bench upstairs and a small generator to power up his television (which showed nothing of great import, but the noise helped). He didn't notice it at first when he returned from the hospital, but it quickly dawned on Gabriel that he was alone in the large apartment building. The sheer emptiness, the sheer silence had hit him all at once one night. A quick investigation confirmed it; he was really alone.

"Hey! Hey, Gabriel!" The voice shook the boy out of his musings. Raising an eyebrow, he got out of the lawn chair and walked over to the edge of the apartment that was considered its front. He leaned over and saw Amir looking up. Despite himself, a small smile graced his features and he waved down at the paramedic.

"Hey there. Shouldn't you be out saving lives?"

"Yeah, about that…" Amir gestured with his other arm, which was in a sling, "let me up and I'll tell you all about it." Gabriel must have hesitated because Amir gestured with his other hand that held a cooler. "I brought beers," he added in a way that was supposed to be tantalizing. Gabriel smiled.

"I don't drink alcohol, but it was a nice try."

"Well, I have some soda and other stuff too!" added Amir quickly. "Come on, you aren't going to leave me out here to beg, are you? I mean, any longer and I think I might get jumped or something."

Gabriel pretended to think about it for a little longer before he gave another wave. "Hey, I'll be right down; try not to get beat up while you wait, ok?" Gabriel smiled a little as he heard Amir's laughter. It didn't take long to get downstairs and within seconds he cleared away the debris that he methodically placed to block the entrance. It was getting more and more violent out there as they days continued. It was beginning to be that it wasn't even safe to be outside in the daylight.

Amir smiled as Gabriel easily shoved aside the armoire. "Hi," said Gabriel, barely winded.

"Hi," replied Amir, smiling again. Gabriel nodded at Amir before examining the man's arm. Up close, it was easy to see other cuts and bruises that decorated the man; those weren't there before. Something had happened. There it was…that odd itching feeling…like he just _had_ to touch him.

"Come on; let's get you inside before you get jumped."

* * *

"Wow, this is a comfy set up you have going on here," Amir looked around the roof before sitting his cooler down near the chairs. Two of the chairs were already occupied; one by a cage holding a white rat, the other holding a teddy-bear, of all things. He wanted to ask Gabriel what was up with the bear but thought better of it.

"Please, have a seat anywhere," replied Gabriel, sitting on the bench. "I can move Sniffy if you want me too."

Amir waved a dismissive hand before he sat on the lawn chair and sighed before closing his eyes. "It feels good to relax."

"Now, tell me what happened to you arm." Gabriel resisted the urge to reach forward; he wanted to hear the story first.

"Yeah, ok. I was still doing some search and rescue, trying to treat people, but another riot broke out and the crowd ended up flipping the ambulance that my partner and I were using. I was lucky enough to only get out with a broken arm, but my partner…got it worse."

"Is he…?"

"Dead? No. Broken neck a few burns, but…he's paralyzed, pretty much from the neck down." Gabriel frowned thoughtfully before he reached forward and placed a hand on Amir's exposed upper arm. "What are you doing?" asked Amir, sitting up a little. With his other hand, Gabriel gently eased the man back into his seat.

"I'm going to heal you." And with that his hands glowed with the now familiar green light. Gabriel 'looked' at Amir's arms; he could 'see' the energy flowing through the bones and mending them; he could see the damaged blood vessels repairing, in a sense. He really couldn't "see" it, in the sense that the word suggested. It was difficult to explain even to himself; it was as if he could see the energy mending what was wrong in the body…as if the part the his energy focused on suddenly lit up like a flare, to his eyes at least.

Within seconds the injury was healed.

Amir was looking at Gabriel with wide eyes, his light almond skin flushed slightly and his breathing a little heavier. Gabriel stared back and, for a brief moment, allowed himself to appreciate Amir.

He really was a handsome man. Late twenties, slightly pronounced cheek bones, sharp chin, intense hazel eyes. A five o'clock shadow that he was sporting only added to his looks. Gabriel blinked and looked away, glad that his skin was just dark enough to make a blush barely noticeable (key word being barely; he was capable of blushing, much to his chagrin). Amir was taller than him and more 'built' than he was, but aside from that he was comfortably average. _'Not the time, or the place…' _But even as he thought that, he knew that Amir was looking at him too. The silence felt like hours compressed within seconds.

"Your eyes…" said Amir finally, "They turned green. Not glowy, bright green, but…just green."

"Interesting observation. I'll be sure to record it," replied Gabriel, working hard (and succeeding) in keeping the tremor out of his voice. Realizing that he was still touching Amir, he removed his hand and coughed awkwardly.

"That was amazing. I mean…I've seen you do this before, but it felt like…like…"

"Like warmth pouring into you? Like light easing away the pain?" suggested Gabriel, making an attempt to distract himself from his own thoughts.

"Well…no need to be modest. But, yes, that is kind of how it felt. So, good news, you healed my arm, bad news, I still have this—" Gabriel reached forward and calmly ripped the plaster cast in half. Amir raised an eyebrow and rubbed his freed limb. "Ok…?"

"I've been investigating the limits of my new…abilities for the past few days. Essentially, I can alter the flow of life energy within a subject to a variety of effects, on three basic spheres; healing, enhancement, and alteration. Healing is self explanatory, enhancement is of course increasing one's physical abilities, and alteration is actually _changing_ one's body in some way. I would go more in depth with an explanation, but I don't feel like it…I did write a paper on it, however, if you want to know the specifics."

"You wrote a _paper_ about your abilities?" asked Amir, raising an eyebrow. Gabriel glanced away as if to reconsider his statement before he looked back at Amir and nodded.

"Actually, a thesis, to be specific." Amir gave him an odd look and Gabriel raised his eyebrows, "What? I was bored and writing all of it down really did help provide a framework for me to consider how my ability operates."

Amir's odd look continued for a few seconds before he laughed and shook his head. "Let me guess, you were the cerebral one of your siblings?"

"Hardly. My sister Clara is considered the genius of the family. I am the less talented one."

Again, Amir raised his eyebrows in surprise; he only knew Gabriel for a short while, but that was more than long enough for him to gather that Gabriel was pretty intelligent. In the past three days he tested his abilities with, presumably, scientific objectivity and went so far as to write thesis concerning said abilities. Amir was curious what Gabriel's sister must have been like if Gabriel was the "less talented" one.

A brief silence filled the gap between the two. Gabriel stood and walked over towards the edge of the roof that overlooked the docks. Amir glanced at the television before looking down at the empty chairs.

"So, what do your neighbors think of your abilities? I mean, assuming that you've told them at all," asked Amir. At first Gabriel didn't respond and for a moment Amir thought that the younger male didn't hear him. He was going to ask again when Gabriel slowly turned and looked at Amir with an odd expression.

"Did you notice how quiet it is in this building?" he asked. Amir opened his mouth to respond before promptly shutting it; it was unusually quiet, now that he thought about it. The building had a certain sense of being abandoned, with the lone exception of Gabriel, of course. "I didn't notice the silence when I first returned. It wasn't until the second day that I realized just how…alone I was here. I tried every door, I investigated every single apartment. They're all gone, Amir. Every. Single. One.

"When I discovered that there was nobody in this apartment but me, I started to gather supplies. I was going to throw out all of the perishables, but I discovered a freezer and another generator downstairs and stored everything I could in there. Non-perishables I hid in various apartments, in the event that anyone tried breaking in…so, you know, they'd have a hard time of finding all of the food all at once. Medical supplies and blankets I placed in my room along with any bottled water I could find." Amir sat silently as Gabriel moved closer, his eyes somewhat distant as he recalled everything he did. "This was, of course, all between me studying and trying to figure out this…ability." Gabriel fell silent before he looked up at Amir. "It was all such a natural thing to do, right? I mean…it was completely and utterly practical for me to gather supplies, right?"

Amir slowly nodded. "Yeah…no one can fault you. You were taking steps to ensure that you would survive."

"Yeah? Then why do I feel so bad about it? Every time I picked up a can of tuna, every time I found a roll of toilet paper, every time I…" Gabriel picked up the teddy-bear that Amir had almost forgotten about, his voice softer when he spoke again, "Every time I made preparations for survival, I couldn't help but think 'Where are they?' or 'Why are they gone?' In the end, it just hurt too much to think about because it didn't make sense. Still doesn't. Why doesn't…any of this…make sense?" he asked, his voice breaking as he felt an unfamiliar feeling well up inside of him.

He looked down at the teddy-bear and thought about the child that it must have belonged to and, somewhere deep inside, a dam broke and he started to cry.

Just like that, pent up stress, anger, confusion, and fear escaped in the form of tears. It had been years since Gabriel last cried, not since he was a child, in fact. It was almost unfamiliar, felt horrible to do, yet at the same time it was such a _relief_. It made him feel human.

Amir stood and gathered Gabriel in his arms. If it were another time or another place, Gabriel would have resisted the hug (even as a child he would not allow himself to be consoled), but right then at that moment Gabriel just wanted to feel _something_. He tried so hard to approach the situation with an analytical mindset. Usually that was what he did whenever a situation seemed too tough or too scary to handle. When his dog died as a kid he told himself that _Everything dies eventually._ When his first boyfriend dumped him he told himself _This pain will pass._ When his parents disowned him, he told himself _They will get over it eventually._

However, when the Blast happened in Empire city, killing hundreds of thousands…well, Gabriel didn't know what to tell himself.

Gabriel realized that Amir was speaking to him.

"—and nothing like this ever makes sense, you know? A bomb goes off, people are killed senselessly…I would hate to live in a world where this is supposed to make sense. It's alright to be afraid…it's only natural—"

Gabriel wasn't sure how long they stood like that, him crying, Amir holding him. Eventually, however, Gabriel's tears stopped, but Amir still held him. Gabriel selfishly savored the moment before stepping back and wiping at his face.

Gabriel wasn't sure what to say or do next and so decided to go with what seemed natural. "Are you hungry?"

* * *

Ten minutes later saw Gabriel and Amir preparing for an impromptu barbecue. The generator downstairs wouldn't last forever, thus Gabriel reasoned that it would be best to cook some of the meat before it had a chance to go bad.

"You know, you have a lot of food here. I can ask around and see if anyone is taking donations. If there are any rescue stations being set up, they'll be perfect areas to donate to without worry of a riot or something," said Amir as he and Gabriel carried the grill onto the roof.

"That isn't such a bad idea, actually. My only concern is that with everyone going crazy a rescue station might get overrun, especially if told that there's food available."

"True…"

"Plus there's to consider distributing food to the neediest sources…plus, there's the question of just how long this quarantine is going to last and if they government will actually give the city supplies."

Amir grunted as he set down the grill. "Ahh, a good consideration, my friend."

Soon the grill was lit and the food was cooking; hamburgers and hot-dogs for dinner and a salad just to even things out. Dinner wasn't anything fancy but, compared to what other people had (or didn't have) it might as well have been caviar and escargot.

"Thank you, Gabriel," said Amir after swallowing the last bit of his hot-dog. He took a swig from his beer.

"For what?"

"Having me over for the day. And dinner. And, you know, healing my arm. You've been a great host and this is probably the best time that I had, even before the Blast."

Gabriel smiled a little before shrugging a little. "It's not my food; it really wouldn't be right for me to not share it with anyone. Besides, you've been a welcome…friend. In fact, I think you should take some food with you on your way home."

"What, you aren't worried that I'll get jumped?" he asked jokingly.

"Well, if you get injured you could always give me a call. I'm in the healing business, now."

Amir raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Oh? So tell me…do you make house calls too?"

The two laughed together and Gabriel sighed. "Ok, that's it, I'm cutting you off. I think that's the alcohol talking." Gabriel reached over to grab the bottle but Amir stopped him by placing a hand on his wrist. Gabriel's smile faded a little before he looked away and withdrew his hand. "I'm serious, though. I was thinking about what you said," he started, his voice a little shaky, "You probably know some families or people who could really use him supplies. Maybe if we make some bundles or something we can deliver them without people knowing so we don't get mobbed." Amir gave Gabriel a smile in response. Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "What? Does my idea sound silly?"

"No…I'm just really glad that I found you."

Gabriel felt the urge to blush and practiced suppressing it. He was met with success this time and briefly wondered how was it that Amir had a talent of eliciting such a reaction.

The television, which was showing some commercial briefly went to static before the scene changed; replacing the advertisement for toothpaste was a skinny man wearing a black hat, white shirt, and a black bandana that obscured his features.

"_I just got reports saying that the hospital in the Historic District is currently running on fumes. With the power out they had to rely on generators but they're running low on fuel. If you have any gasoline available, take it down to the hospital. Whether it's laying around the house, in your lawnmowers, or even in your cars, siphon it and take it down to McGee's General Hospital and help out your fellow man; it ain't like you got anywhere to drive. Voice of Survival, out."_

And with that the commercial continued as if it was never interrupted.

"So, I guess it's true; someone did barricade themselves in the television station," remarked Amir.

"What was the name of your partner?"

"Uh...Harold McCarthy," replied Amir, a little confused by the sudden question. He looked at Gabriel and frowned slightly when he saw the thoughtful look on Gabriel's face. "What are you planning?"

Gabriel looked up at Amir before standing. "I'm going to make myself useful."

* * *

It didn't take long for Gabriel to get ready; he only wore a simple green shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes, but then again he didn't need much for what he was planning.

"Gabriel, I don't know what you're planning but I have a very good idea that it involves you walking into that hospital and healing everybody in there."

"Your powers of deduction are amazing," replied Gabriel, walking towards the edge of the roof. "That is exactly what I'm going to do. I mean, I was given these abilities for a reason, right? They aren't doing me much good sitting up here and brooding."

"But Gabe, you haven't even tested the full extent of your abilities, what if…what if…" Gabriel turned and looked up at Amir, waiting for the man to finish his sentence. Amir eventually sighed in defeat. "I really just don't want for you to get hurt."

Gabriel turned away and walked to the edge of the roof before glancing back at Amir. "I'll be fine." And with that he jumped over the edge. When Amir ran over to look down he saw Gabriel land and walk away as if he hadn't just fell seven stories.

* * *

Gabriel was secretly amazed that he landed without a scratch. It was a little exhilarating, if he were to tell the truth. It was early evening, with a bit of sunlight left. Soon it would be dark and soon the mysterious soldiers would be out, but that didn't dissuade him from his task.

He ran to the hospital. Even with his enhancements he didn't have super speed, but he was performing at a level much higher than the average human; his body used oxygen a lot more efficiently and he was able to stave off the formation of lactic acids. He reached the hospital in record time and barely out of breath.

He entered the Emergency Room and saw the sorry state that it was in. It was overcrowded, people had to use chairs as gurneys, and the noise was overwhelming. Gabriel walked over to the nearest injured person and when he healed them there was silence.

* * *

**A/N:** Another chapter, another dollar.

Ok, so I lied about the dollar bit, but hey, it would be cool if I got paid a dollar per chapter, but whatever, on to the commentary. First things first, I realize that my story has a slow pacing at first. As the story continues this will pick up momentum, however I do like to take time and focus on moments, as you can tell. For example, I was wondering just how someone would react to such an explosion. There's a range of reactions, typically terror and rage, but this is already represented via the riots going on in the city.

There's also shock and confusion, which Gabriel was currently going through. It's hard to tell with Gabs because when all else fails he falls back onto logic. Also, concerning the scene where he breaks down and cry, I must admit that it felt a little odd to do, but the fact is that when I first thought of Gabriel he wasn't cold and cerebral; he was a nice person, kind, if not a little naïve. Obviously this has changed since then, however deep down inside I figure that Gabriel still is nice, he just has layers. Layers that Amir seems especially skilled at subverting.

Also, I'm sorry if the fluff was a little too much for the audience, but I honestly couldn't help myself. As the fic goes on fluff will be balanced with drama and such, but I honestly couldn't help myself.

In terms of city geography, the only hospital that I can think of that the game actively points out is in the Warren. However, I took a little bit of artistic license and decided to add a relatively smaller hospital in the historic district. My reasoning is simple: the Historic District is likely named just that for a reason, that is to say that it's likely the oldest portion of the city. It stands to reason that there's a hospital in the Historic District, just probably not as big as the one in the Warren. I know, small details, but blah.

Speaking of buildings, Gabriel's apartment does exist in the game. It's what looks to be an apartment located near the docks in the Historic District (not facing the Neon), though I doubt anyone cares that much about the detail. I'm just a little OCD, 'tis all.

Also, keep an eye peeled because I'm going to try to have a playlist linked to my profile for this story. That's right, I'm going to try to compile a soundtrack for the story. Why? Why not?

I would love to give a succinct definition of Gab's abilities, but I'd prefer to show rather than tell. Just know that there is a basis to Gabe's ability and then there's specific things that he can do. Like, how Cole is "electricity" in general, but he can do different things, well, in general Gabriel's range of abilities concern the body. What he can do? Well, he can heal for one, give himself super stamina, super durability, and even some measure of super strength. Additional utilizations of this ability will come, but this is mainly here to people don't think that I'm just pulling abilities out of the blue.

Let's see...ah, for a bit of trivia Gabriel's rat Sniffy is named after a program that I had to use in college. It was a virtual rat named Sniffy that we used to test learning theories (Classical and Operant Conditioning)

I think that's it for my rambling, now on to the reviews.

**Chiharu-Chan**: I'm flattered that you're enjoying my story so much, to the point of it nomming your socks. Thank you for your advice; I definitely will continue writing and hopefully people will enjoy it. If not, I shall still write, because writing is fun and inFamous needs more fanfics, methinks.

Your theory of Gabriel-as-Jesus is amusing. I have to admit, his name probably doesn't help matters. Now that I've somewhat defined and demonstrated his ability, I guess that might make him less Jesusy…maybe, lol.

I would enjoy a collaboration, so I'll likely message you about that for more details and I will read your story (and review =3 )! Thank you for the support!

p.s. I love your reviews!

**Zouichi**: Thank you for your review; I hope that I continue to please!


	4. Auspice

**_Chapter 3_**

_Auspice_

_**OoOoOoO**_

_I'm honestly not sure when it hit me. Maybe it was when I was in the emergency room, healing the critically injured and the dying. Maybe it was when I found some scrubs to change into to hide my identity. Maybe it was even when I decided that everyone in that hospital was going to walk out of there, healed, but sometime during that night, something hit me. _

_I was happy. In some odd way, I felt content, like I was doing what I was meant to do. I always wanted to help people…which was why I started to go to school for psychology. Maybe I should have become a doctor or a surgeon of some sort…but, now this is a moot point. I was given a gift that every doctor, nurse, and surgeon would sacrifice anything for: I could fix what was broken._

_But even as I fixed broken bodies…I wondered, if I could really do anything to save the broken hearts of those who lost loved ones, of broken minds shattered by the horror of a senseless act, or the broken city._

* * *

Some time had passed and Amir was still standing in the spot he was in when Gabriel had ran off to the hospital to help. He honestly wasn't sure of the source of his indecision; he wasn't sure if he should wait for Gabriel to return, if he should go and try to stop him, if he should go and try to help…

But what could he do? He wasn't super-human…he didn't have healing hands. Sure, he was an EMT and a good one if his colleges were to be believed when they made such statements, but all of the skill that he had acquired in education and experience on the job seemed to pale in comparison to the ability to manipulate biology in the way that Gabriel did. He obviously went beyond healing; he landed from a five story drop like it was nothing. Gabriel himself had even said that he could do much more than that.

And to try to stop him…well…why would he do that? Amir would be the first to admit that it was good that Gabriel wanted to use his gift to heal. But, in the midst of this confusion, someone running around with powers just served to complicate things. Amir thought back to when he and his team had found Gabriel. It was only a few days ago…he was knocking on death's door, but now…

"Who would've guessed that I found Empire City's very own superhero?"

Amir looked around the empty roof and his eyes fell on the teddy bear, abandoned near one of the chairs. He remembered just how very human Gabriel still was.

'_Even if I can't do much I should probably go help,'_ he thought. The very sentiment gave him momentum and soon he was rushing down the fire escape. The ladder that would help him get to the bottom was missing but it wasn't too far a drop to the ground.

Amir consulted his mental map of the Historic District and figured the quickest route to the hospital and started running. His route took him through some of the darker alleys, but tonight they seemed suspiciously empty.

Amir didn't have long to ponder why he wasn't being mugged when a very likely explanation presented itself. As he was about to exit an alley he noticed a procession of soldiers walking down the main street. The soldiers that had appeared after the Blast, to be specific.

Since their arrival after the Blast, this was the first time that Amir had seen them mobilize; up until now it seemed like they were fine with lurking about in the shadows. He wondered where they could possibly be going in such a number but soon his mind formed a likely answer: they were heading towards the hospital. They were heading in the right direction and they had a pretty good reason to head that way.

They were after Gabriel.

Not for the first time, Amir pondered the circumstances of the Blast. Amir knew a thing or two about terrorists because when he was a young boy back in Lebanon his father was killed in an explosion that was later linked to a terrorist group. It was his father's death that prompted his mother to move he and his younger brother and sister to the States. It was, unfortunately, also his father's death that motivated his younger brother to join the Army, only for him to head back to the same country and die in a roadside bomb.

Terrorists committed their acts to terrorize; they used fear to get their way and an explosion was always a good way to scare people. Once that was done, the media would spread their message for them simply by covering the senseless act of violence.

To Amir's knowledge, no one had stepped forward to claim responsibility for the attack…granted, communication was kind of complicated at this point, but terrorists did not have the funds or the numbers to create a military force. They usually resulted to guerilla methods of attack…asymmetrical warfare.

This wasn't asymmetrical warfare. This wasn't even warfare. This was something else. And if they were after Gabriel, something that seemed to be likely (Amir figured that Gabriel had enough time to start to heal a significant number of people and for word to perhaps start to spread a little) then this explosion wasn't an act of terrorism.

Amir didn't take time to consider the implications of this as he double-timed it to the hospital.

A metallic device silently lowered into the alleyway; its lone lens focused on the retreating figure.

* * *

Gabriel stumbled into the stairwell. Between starting in the emergency room and working through the first and second floors, Gabriel was finding it harder to stay on his feet. His entire body felt like it was shackled with lead weights, an energy-sapping iciness seemed to numb his body, and everything just seemed dull.

Even on his worst day he'd never felt anywhere near as horrible as he did now. The journey to the third floor was an arduous task. He only made it to the first landing when he slumped to the ground, his body too weak to continue. He gritted his teeth and struggled to keep his eyes open, forming the notion that he couldn't fall unconscious as long as he kept them open.

Gabriel had figured that a certain amount of energy was needed to fuel his abilities, but he hadn't realized just how much a toll was being taken on his body. He'd found his first, and pretty glaring, weakness: energy source. He needed something for his body to metabolize.

The lights dimmed and flickered uncertainly. They must have temporarily blacked out, and he along with them, because when he was able to see again there was someone crouching in front of him.

She was a woman of late middle age. Her hair was already a faint silver, however she wasn't necessarily old enough for the adjective 'elderly' to be appropriate. She had dark, almost black eyes, a sharp nose, small lips, and a certain look about her that suggested a quiet confidence.

'_Like the eye of a storm…'_ thought Gabriel, blinking sluggishly. His eyes fell on the badge that was clipped to her white doctor's jacket. Doctor Judith Silver.

"I've been observing you since you arrived on the first floor and continued to the second. It isn't every day that you see one with your abilities, after all. I was curious to see how your ability worked…and so I followed you, observed you. I realized that perhaps your body was using its own resources to fuel your extraordinary skill and it would appear that I was correct. I brought food," She gestured at the floor. Power bars and protein shakes. Normally Gabriel tended to stray away from such 'food' but at the moment he would have eaten chocolate covered ants if it meant feeling better.

He started into the power bars (he struggled so much with unwrapping one that Dr. Silver had to open it for him) and ignored the taste in hopes that he would get some results. After three he started to feel a little normal. A few more power bars and two protein shakes later and he was feeling more himself.

He looked up at Dr. Silver, who was observing him with a calm quietness, "Thank you." The woman only nodded and a corner of her lips twitched into was might have been a smile. Gabriel was suddenly under the impression that there was something he should have found off about the woman in front of him but his still addled mind couldn't really fathom why.

She obviously wasn't bothered by his ability to heal, but that in no way made her unique. There were plenty of people who weren't necessarily bothered by his ability. He never met her before so he had no reason to be suspicious. In fact, she was giving him food and helping him recover; she was a boon, if anything.

Putting it off as some side effect of being energy deprived, Gabriel stood on steady legs and clenched his fists; while he still felt a little tired, he was worlds better than what he was a few minutes ago. "Thank you, again, Doctor…"

"Silver. Judith Silver," replied the woman, very formal. Gabriel had already gleaned her name, but he was trying to get a gauge of her personality. Only a slight pause in his sentence and she seized the opportunity to give her name. Proud of her achievements. Very attentive, coupled with an assertiveness that allowed her to seize opportunity.

Or maybe that was just his unwarranted paranoia from earlier speaking.

"I'm…" Gabriel paused. He didn't want to give away his identity. For some odd reason it just felt taboo. Realizing his train of thought, he almost rolled his eyes; _'Not like I'm a superhero.'_

"Whoever you are, you seem unfamiliar. While I don't know every face here, I'm good with faces and names. Besides, I would have at least noticed a staff member who was capable of healing. In any event, only your first name will be sufficient."

"Gabriel."

"Nice to meet you then, Gabriel. If you do not mind, I'd like to accompany you to the third floor. I can direct you to the patients you will most certainly require your attention and perhaps you could answer a few questions that I have? If you don't mind, that is."

Gabriel agreed with a silent nod. He still felt off balance somehow, but he couldn't see anything wrong with her request.

Maybe if she was interested enough he could let her read his thesis.

* * *

Amir slowed to a stop as he made it to the hospital. He had to admit that he was a little surprised that he managed to make if there before the soldiers. Even with the short cuts that he'd taken, he had figured that he would have _just_ arrived as they did. Glancing around, he didn't see any sign of the soldiers.

He did, however, see people leaving the hospital. As he approached the crowd he became aware of a general aura of excitement and wonder. He glanced at the smiling, surprised, overjoyed faces.

"…I still can't believe it…"

"He just came in, healed her, and left! It was like something out of the Bible…"

"…such a warm feeling, I'll never forget it."

'_Gabriel,'_ he thought, pausing long enough to grin just a little. This was the happiest that he'd seen anyone since the Blast and this was all because of Gabriel.

"Amir!"

Amir turned towards the direction of the voice, surprised. "Harold!" The man with a broken neck and a strong possibility of not walking again was striding towards him, smiling like he just won the lottery. The two men grabbed hands in what was supposed to be a handshake but turned into a hug. Amir blinked rapidly.

"Amir...I don't know who he is or what he is...but this man, he...he just..."

"He healed you. He actually healed you. Gabriel..."

"What, you know this guy?" asked his partner. Amir shook his head before nodding.

"Listen, I...I can't talk right now. I'll fill you in later, promise! I have to go."

Amir didn't pause to answer any questions nor did he stop when Harold called after him; he figured (or hoped) that Gabriel was still inside and so pushed through the crowd and into the emptying emergency room.

* * *

As Gabriel continued his healing march, even as Amir finished searching the first floor for Gabriel, even as Doctor Silver asked a myriad of questions, even as the lights flickered and dimmed once more, the soldiers arrived at the hospital.

The crowd parted in a way that would've made the Red Sea green with envy. Slowly the crowd began to dissipate and those who weren't as quick or fortunate as to slip away were briefly questioned and privately tagged for identification for possible follow-up.

More soldiers entered the hospital and began sweeping through in fireteams, searching swiftly and efficiently for the conduit that they were sent to retrieve.

The lights flickered and dimmed into darkness for a final time as the generators gave a dying whine. The darkness didn't bother them. The goggles of their face masks glowed with an eldritch orange light and the hospital staff or freshly ex-patients shrunk back from the men in silent fear. No, darkness didn't bother them because they would bring light where there was darkness.

The First Sons had arrived.

* * *

"So, this…bio-vision of yours. You can 'see' the portion of the body that you're working on? Like broken bone mending, or regenerating an organ, or…"

"Yes, Doctor," replied Gabriel as he focused on healing a forty year old woman of her breast cancer. The defective stem cells were fixed, the cancerous cells were destroyed, and new cells were rejuvenated to replace the destroyed ones. He went to draw his hand away but more energy slipped out and her failing eyesight was also restored. _'I need to learn how to control this…I'm not using my energy economically.'_ While it was nice to fix eyesight, it was obviously something she was used to dealing with if the worn glasses were any indication.

"My pain…it's all gone. I…I never believed…but…" the woman's eyes filled with tears and she looked up at Gabriel with a soft smile. "Thank you."

Gabriel only nodded before he left the room. Dr. Silver followed.

"Your alterations…are they permanent?" she asked. Just as Gabriel paused the lights flickered and died for the last time.

Gabriel was grateful for the darkness; it hid his uncertainty. He had always assumed that his alterations were permanent, but what if they weren't? He thought about the woman that he had just healed. What if her cancer returned? What if the people who left here suddenly were struck down by illnesses that they thought were long gone?

'_Well, no, I took that into consideration; I destroyed the mutated stem cells, destroyed the cancerous cells, and grew new cells. I made sure that there wasn't any cancer left in her body…she was clean,'_ he thought to himself, even as his eyes quickly adjusted to the dark.

"The generators finally kicked it. I doubt that we have any gas to get them back up. It's just as well that you arrived. You healed all of our more critical cases and any who remain aren't so severe that they'll die without some kind of medical attention. Good work, Gabriel."

"Thank you…" he replied, glancing behind the Doctor as a running figure approached. A very familiar figure, in fact. "Amir!"

Orienting on Gabriel's voice, Amir started in their direction. Gabriel stepped forward and reached out to grab Amir's arm. The other man jumped, surprised, but recovered quickly. "Man am I glad that I found you," said Amir and, showing just how glad he was, he hugged Gabriel. Gabriel returned the hug before he was fully cognizant of what he was doing. His first impulse was to move away, but that was simply an impulse. The truth was, he liked the hug. He normally wasn't one for physical contact, but he figured that the Blast shook even him on a psychological level. He would take what comforts he could; it was an odd situation, after all.

As the hug ended, Gabriel could feel that familiar itching raising again. It wasn't as bad as it usually was, but he was still compelled to heal; his hand glowed with a faint green light and the energy transferred to Amir and traveled throughout him.

"Uh…wow. Thanks for the energy boost but…that wasn't really required," replied Amir, suddenly not sounding winded anymore.

"Sorry. My gift seems to have a mind of its own," replied Gabriel with a small grin. Realizing that he was, in fact, _grinning_, he wiped the look off of his face, glad that the darkness masked his expression from everyone else.

"Gabriel? Where did you go? What's going on?" asked Dr. Silver.

"I'm over here. Hold on," Gabriel grabbed Amir's hand and led him back over to Dr. Silver. "Doctor, this is my friend Amir. He's an EMT for the city. Amir, this is Doctor Silver, she helped me out."

"Nice to meet you, Amir."

"Likewise, Doctor. I'd like to stay and chat, but Gabriel we've got to get you out of here. You know the soldiers that I told you about? The ones that showed up out of nowhere following the Blast? They're here and I think that they're searching for you."

"The First Sons," muttered Dr. Silver.

"What?" chorused the men.

"Is that what they're called?" asked Amir.

Gabriel's question closely followed Amir's, "How do you know their name?"

"Yes, that is what they call themselves. As for how I heard, one of the patients overheard it and I overheard them talking about it. He was discussing something about the possibility of them being a domestic terrorist group." Gabriel, able to see pretty well in the dark, scanned the doctor's expression. She seemed thoughtful.

"Ok…but why would they be after me?" asked Gabriel. "Doesn't make sense…I mean, I guess it does if they have wounded on their side, but…still. Why would terrorists be interested in me?"

"Maybe they aren't terrorists," replied Amir.

Gabriel regarded Amir. The thought had crossed his mind. It seemed like a likely possibility, now that he thought about it, but it was a little too early to draw a distinctive conclusion.

At this point some of the staff seemed to have procured flashlights and were passing them out amongst themselves. A beam of light bobbed in their direction. Gabriel winced at what seemed to be an intensely bright light and glanced away, bringing his eyes back down to 'normal' so that the light wouldn't hurt as much.

"Doctor Silver! Here, take this," the RN handed the gray haired woman a flashlight. "We've already started the evacuation procedures but we'll need your help as well."

Judith Silver activated the flashlight and nodded at the younger woman. "I'll be right there. Give me a moment to straighten something out. Also, tell all of the staff to remain afterwards for a debriefing, ok?"

"Ok!" With that the woman ran back down the hall to help see to the evacuation.

"Ok. We likely don't have much time. I'll help you escape, however I'm afraid that we don't have some kind of secret stairwell that you can access…" The sound of a gunshot drew their attention back towards the other end of the hallway. Staff and patients were being herded back and a flash of weaponry and masked faces with blue goggles for eyes made it clear how much time they didn't have. "Come." Dr. Silver hurried in the opposite direction of the patients and the First Sons. Amir and Gabriel quickly followed as she took them around a corner and into a room that required a key for entrance…a key that Dr. Silver fortunately had.

She silently closed the door behind the two men. Gabriel looked around; fresh linens, fresh sheets, fresh towels and wash cloths. At the other end was a shoot and his mind already leaped to the correct conclusion.

"You want us to fall down to the laundry room?" asked Gabriel, a little incredulous.

"If you have a better plan, Gabriel, share it. They've probably already swept the laundry room. They'll likely still have sentries posted, however you will meet with less resistance. Besides, once you reach the basement, you can exit via the staff entrance; once leaving the laundry room make a left and you'll run into it eventually. As for the fall, it shouldn't be too bad and any injuries that are incurred will be within your healing ability, I'm sure."

"Makes sense," said Amir. Gabriel conceded with a small sigh.

"You'll need this," she handed the flashlight to Amir, "and this," she handed a piece of paper to Gabriel. It was a card with her name and number. Gabriel looked up from the card to the doctor. "You can help a lot of people. Keep in touch. Now, get going."

"Um…thanks," replied Gabriel, feeling awkward for some odd reason. He walked over to the shoot and was, fortunately, able to fit inside. He silently fell down into the darkness. When he landed, it was in a bin full of dirty covers. He wrinkled his nose and hurriedly climbed out.

"The floor would have been preferable," he uttered, feeling the urge for a hot shower. A second later Amir landed in the dirty linens and climb out.

"Are you ok?" asked Amir. The question amused Gabriel for some reason.

"Yes. You?"

"Five by five."

"Let's go." It was quickly agreed that swinging a flashlight around in the dark was a quick way to get caught, so Gabriel would be the eyes. This resulted in him leading Amir around by the hand, of course.

The laundry room was clear, as was the hallway outside of it, however when Gabriel glanced around the corner that would lead to the stairwell, he saw the back of a sentry. He ducked back around the corner and gave Amir's hand a gentle squeeze before letting go. Understanding, Amir nodded.

Gabriel took a deep breath before he darted around the corner. He focused his gift inward, strengthening his whole body, but especially focusing on his legs. He pushed off, taking one step. The next step propelled him even faster, and by the third step he was moving faster than he'd ever moved in his life. It wasn't superspeed, really, but it was enough to make an Olympic sprinter jealous.

The soldier started to turn around, but he didn't even get the chance to do anything but glimpse at the blur that was Gabriel before an incredible force struck him. Gabriel tackled the man into the wall and they collided with a sickening crack. The man fell to the ground, motionless. Gasping slightly for breath, Gabriel looked at the wall. His eyes widened slightly at seeing cracks spiderwebbing from the point of impact.

Gabriel returned to retrieve Amir and could see the surprise and slight concern on the other man's face.

"It's me," said Gabriel, and Amir relaxed.

"What was that?"

"Introduced the soldier to the wall. The soldier didn't take it as well as the wall did."

Amir simply winced. "Remind me not to get on your bad side."

Gabriel smiled a little and grabbed Amir's hand to lead him once more.

* * *

The basement of the hospital was larger than expected and so a pattern developed; anytime Gabriel spotted soldiers, he would leave Amir behind, deal with the soldiers, retrieve Amir and continue. For the most part the skirmishes were handled pretty silently except for one occasion when the soldier managed to get a shot off.

'Eventually' did come, however accidentally. When waiting for Gabriel to finish up with a sentry, Amir leaned against a wall that turned out to be a door. In accordance to gravity, the door opened and Amir fell through, landing on the ground and looking up at a surprised soldier.

Amir was on his feet in a flash and by the time the soldier remembered to bring his gun to bear Amir was up and pushing the gun aside so that the few shots that the man fired harmlessly bounced off of the door.

Still holding the gun, Amir kicked at the inside of the soldier's knee. Three things happened: the knee cracked wetly, the man let out a muffled grunt of pain, and, most importantly, the man started to fall. Amir turned and wrenched the weapon away from the falling man. He adjusted his grip on the gun so that he was holding it correctly and pressed it into the back of the man's neck.

"Make a sound and it'll be your last."

"I'm glad to see that you're playing nice." Amir glanced up at Gabriel briefly enough to shoot him a grin before he looked down at the soldier.

"Well, you know what they say. Give 'em an inch,"

"And they'll take a mile." Gabriel approached and reached down to touch the man's neck. In a flash of green light the soldier stilled. Amir backed away, eyes wide.

"Did you…?"

"Hmm?" asked Gabriel, looking up at Amir's expression before he frowned suddenly. "Oh, no. I just knocked him out. Let's go while the getting's good."

The two disappeared into the night, neither aware of the floating metallic device that kept a careful eye on the two.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Lull between updates was due to my flash-drive deciding to break and me having to start over from scratch. Not necessarily a bad thing since I like how this turned out a lot better than what I had originally, so yay for that!

I realize that I focus on terrorists and terrorism a lot, however I'm trying to approach the story from the point of view of an average citizen; they assume/are told that terrorists are the cause of the explosion. It's a quick and easy way to explain such a senseless act and, in all honesty, it pretty much is a terrorist act save for the motivation. As stated in the story, terrorists attack to 1) Instill fear in a targeted population and to use said fear to manipulate people and 2) Publicity. The main thing that separates the Blast from a terrorist act is that Kessler does not care about making a statement or controlling a certain portion of the population; he just needed to jumpstart Cole's abilities.

Amir, familiar with how terrorists work (because of his study on the subject), is able to perceive that maybe this isn't quite so simple as a terrorist attack and is smart enough to at least suspect a link between the Blast and Gabriel's abilities. In fact, Gabriel also suspects something similar, as noted in the previous chapter I believe.

I'm not sure why I felt the need to explain this, but hopefully people won't read this and be like "Oh, because Amir is Middle Eastern he _has_ to know about terrorists, huh?" I figured he would know and have studied terrorist culture as a point of curiosity and some kind of closure with dealing with his father's and brother's deaths.

Finally, sorry if the pacing still seems slow, but things shall be picking up soon, I promise!


	5. Thought & Memory

_**Chapter 4**_

_Thought and Memory_

**_OoOoOoO_**

Gabriel watched as the patients were herded into the streets. They were made to stand in rank and file and the black-clad soldiers searched them. Amir laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, we should go while the coast is clear. Won't be long before they start searching the rooftops."

"Yeah, I guess," replied Gabriel, glancing at Amir before looking down once more at the crowd before turning away. After escaping from the hospital they sought high ground in hopes of avoiding capture. No one was following them nor searching around the hospital for them…yet.

"I wonder," started Amir as he climbed down the fire-escape, "if they know to look for you specifically."

"I don't see how," replied Gabriel before he jumped over the ledge and landed silently in the alleyway. It still took some getting used to, the feeling of complete weightlessness, of complete freedom…Gabriel was getting to like it. He waited for Amir to climb down before he continued, "I'm not sure when they could have retrieved an accurate description of me."

"Someone at the funeral? They could have remembered what you looked like, given a description if asked." Amir glanced around the alley before pointing down a certain direction and walking that way. Gabriel shook his head as he followed.

"Doubtful. Most people wouldn't be able to describe some random stranger in specifics. On top of that, it was an emotionally charged situation. They likely didn't remember what I looked like…especially considering how readily their minds will fill in for blank details that they can't remember. I guarantee that a few will testify that I had angel wings of some sort, if only because they drew the association between healing and divine intervention."

"Well, the First Sons are obviously well connected and very aware of what's going on in the city. It isn't a coincidence that they decided to search the very same hospital where you were healing people."

They walked out of the alley, onto the main sidewalk. Very few people were out and those who were moved with an air of anxiety. The streets were a little iffy at night before the Blast; now with crime running unabated and the mercantile First Sons lose, the streets were free game.

"We will find out if they know of my identity when we get home; they'll have someone waiting there, I'm sure."

"Are you…ready for an encounter?"

Gabriel frowned; even though he was walking under his own power, the fact was that he felt very drained. Even with the protein bars and energy shakes, Gabriel was slowly losing energy. The cold feeling was returning, the iciness that threatened to numb him completely. He needed to rest and wasn't sure if he was ready to handle a conflict.

"Do you want the truth?"

Amir placed a hand on Gabriel's and stopped him, turning the slightly shorter male to face him. "Of course I want the truth, Gabriel. Are you feeling alright? Do you need to rest?"

"I'm fine for now," divulged Gabriel, albeit reluctantly, "But I do need to get home and get some rest. I'd like to find out right now if the First Sons are aware of me or not. If they aren't then I get to rest, if they are…well, I'm sure that we'll handle it."

"Yeah, we will," replied Amir, smiling. Gabriel found himself wanting to smile back.

* * *

As it turned out, the apartment wasn't under any obvious observation. Gabriel checked around from the rooftops of a few surrounding buildings while Amir did ground reconnaissance, but Gabrielle didn't see or notice anyone paying particular attention to his apartment.

There was only one moment when he had felt like he was being watched. His skin prickled with the sensation of eyes peering directly at him. When he turned to look he didn't see anyone or anything. It could have been paranoia...it could have been his lack of energy getting to him. It could have been nothing.

With a sigh, he leaped off of the side of the last building and landed next to Amir. "See anything," asked Gabriel.

"Nothing really. Maybe one or two guys casing another apartment, but they were thieves, not military operatives. How about you?"

"It's clear. So…I guess this is…" Gabriel stumbled and would have fallen had Amir not caught him. The wave of dizziness passed after a few moments, but the weakness remained. "I'm ok…" Gabriel had meant to be reassuring but even as he said those words he could hear the lie; he wasn't ok.

Fortunately Amir wasn't one to be easily fooled. "No, you aren't. I'm practically carrying you. In fact…" Amir scooped up his legs and began carrying him, bridal style, towards the apartment.

"How degrading…I can still walk, you know."

"Not taking the chance of you falling and getting head trauma," replied Amir.

"I survived being at ground zero, I think head trauma is within my capability of healing."

"Maybe, but I'd rather not risk it."

Gabriel looked up at Amir in time to catch a smile on the man's face.

"You are enjoying this way too much," replied Gabriel, though he didn't exactly make a struggle to get out of Amir's arms.

"Well, it is nice to see that, despite the crazy things you can do, that you're still human."

Still human. The words echoed through Gabriel's mind. Those words shouldn't have hurt, especially not as much as they did. Gabriel had questioned his humanity since waking up in that hospital room, alive when he should have been dead.

"Yeah…guess I am still human."

There must have been something in his voice that betrayed the fact that the comment was taken the wrong way because Amir immediately responded.

"Gabriel, I didn't mean…I mean, it's not like I didn't think you were—"

"You can put me down," interrupted Gabriel.

"Gabriel," started Amir, a little exasperated.

"We're at my door. You can put me down now."

Amir lowered Gabriel. Both men were silent. As Gabriel fished for his keys he could feel Amir occasionally glancing at him. _'I'm such an idiot. To think that…that I…I don't even know what I was thinking. That he could be an anchor throughout this chaos? I don't need him…I don't need anyone. I never needed anyone,'_ thought Gabriel, rebuilding the emotional walls that were shattered along with everything else by the Blast. It was a crazy thing to happen and waking up with strange abilities was even worse, but he could deal with it.

He dealt being disowned by his parents all by himself. He could deal with this too.

Gabriel's suddenly clumsy fingers finally found his keys. He unlocked the door and tried to push aside the armoire that he had barricaded the door with, but he was still tired…too tired to even move a piece of furniture. Gabriel gritted his teeth and continued to try to push it aside but he couldn't. Amir moved forward to assist but Gabriel moved so that he blocked Amir's body with his own. Amir tried to move around Gabriel but only for the same result.

"Gabriel, let me help you."

"I don't…." Gabriel paused before he turned to glare fully at Amir, "I don't _need_ you. I can do this all by myself. _You_ might be human, _you_ might need someone to help you but I don't need _anyone!_"

Surprised by the shout, Amir stepped back a little, hazel eyes slightly widened. "Gabriel, look, I didn't mean what I said earlier. It was a joke. A stupid joke," Amir shook his head, giving Gabriel a look of apology, "You've got to believe me."

"A joke, huh? Well, I guess the joke's on me. I've always felt different. My whole life I've been a freak. While other boys my age were talking about girls, I was looking at the guys. Where other guys liked sports and the like, I preferred being indoors and reading. Even in my own family I'm considered lesser talented, the less intelligent one out of me and my sister. I've never felt like I've fit in _anywhere_! I've always felt alone," Gabriel paused upon hearing his own words; that wasn't what he meant to say, but it was what he was feeling. "I've always felt alone…" he repeated, glancing at the ground in contemplation before he looked back up at Amir, "And now on top of everything else, I have these strange abilities. Useful, but…it's the final nail in the coffin. I'm an outsider, I'm not human, literally. I'm…a freak."

"Gabriel…"

"No! You don't get to tell me that it's going to be alright, that I'm still human, because I'm not! It would be a far stretch to classify me as human." Gabriel shut his eyes and lowered his head as he backed up against the door. He was tired. Physically and mentally, he was tired. It had been a long day, a long life. Just when he finally got the pattern down pat life went and changed the rules without even having the decency of sending him a memo.

"Look at me."

"No," whispered Gabriel, fighting back the tears and hating himself for coming to the point of tears for the second time in a single day. He normally wasn't this emotional, but ever since waking up in the hospital he had been feeling off somehow. Different…simultaneously aloof yet on the edge of a breakdown. The stress of the Blast, the stress of coping with new abilities, compacted with the stresses that he felt he had been handling so well before…it was akin to someone suddenly tossing more objects into a person's juggling routine.

Amir cupped his chin and gently forced Gabriel to look at him; hazel eyes met eyes so brown that they were almost black. "I'm so sorry if I hurt you. If I made you feel like an outcast. That was never my intent. What I saw today, your willingness to help out a building of strangers that you didn't even know, _that_ defined your humanity.

"You care more than what you're willing to show, but you care all the same. If you weren't human, it wouldn't have bothered you that everyone else who lived in your building was killed in the Blast. If you weren't human, you wouldn't have been considering the idea of passing out the food and materials you found to people in need. You are human, Gabriel."

There was so much sincerity in Amir's eyes that Gabriel couldn't deny that he was telling the truth. Gabriel hugged Amir before he realized what he was doing. He held him, clung to him, as a swimmer lost at sea would cling to driftwood. Amir returned the hug and the two stood there for a while.

"Come on, let's go inside," said Amir. There was so much unsaid in that one sentence. Amir was going to stay the night, obviously. Gabriel's silence was more than a lack of argument, but an agreement in fact. Gabriel let Amir help him move aside his barricade and the two entered the dark building, together.

* * *

As the clouds moved to obscure the moon, a figure approach the edge of a roof-top and watched as the two men entered the building. There was no one to witness as the figure faded into the visible spectrum of light. Clad entirely in black, the man wore a less-bulkier version of the uniform his fellow soldiers wore. A sleeveless top bore the figure's arms to the bracing fall breeze, gloves protected his hands. Ice-blue tinted goggles hung unused around the man's neck. Pants and combat boots completed the uniform. A pair of knives was strapped to his back and his only firearm was a pistol, holstered on his side. There were a variety of grenades and other tools on his person, however he was trained to be agile and silent, both things were hard to achieve when one was weighed down by needless equipment.

A beep audible only to him alerted him of someone trying to contact him. It could have only been one of two people and he already knew who it was. He touched the barely visible com device in his ear.

"Raven, why didn't you report in?" asked the voice.

"My apologies, Observer. There was a moment when I'd thought that I'd been detected. I had to lie low and wait until I felt safe once more." In truth it was only a brief moment when the target had looked directly at him that he thought his invisibility had somehow been compromised. He could have contacted the Observer sooner, but he liked avoiding conversation with the Observer as much as possible.

"Observations?"

"Target has obvious energy limits, though if it is true that he managed to heal a large percentage of the patients in that hospital then he already has an impressive store of energy. Physically strong, even by conduit standards, perhaps even more-so."

"How strong would you posit?"

"Within the realm of being considered 'superhuman'."

"Very well. Anything else?"

"He's emotionally compromised; relies on a friend or something other as an emotional anchor. Of course, this is just from my preliminary observation. I am curious as to why you required my direct observation when the cloaked drone should have been enough."

"My reasons are my own," replied the Observer.

'_Of course,'_ thought Raven, frowning imperceptibly. He already had his own theory; the Observer didn't want the target to be easily tracked…by whom, however? He decided to go fishing for answers.

"Do you wish for the target to be assassinated?"

"No."

"We are capturing the target then?"

"Raven, there will be no killing, no capturing. The target is to be left alone…for now. I need for you to observe the target and report any interesting changes, however no one else is to know about this mission of yours."

Raven was silent. The Observer had ulterior motives. The thought didn't sit too well with Raven. While there was nothing wrong with watching and reporting about a conduit, he had to wonder why the special interest and the need for secrecy.

"Do you understand, Raven?" asked the Observer, sensing hesitance in Raven's silence.

"Affirmative."

"Very well. Keep your eyes sharp and stay hidden."

"Of course, Observer."

* * *

**_25-9-2010/2235 hrs_**

_Sender: Observer_

_Receiver: Odin_

_Re: Project Savior_

_Message:_

_Video footage has been analyzed. Full report attached, however I agree that it would be safe to say that Project Savior is a resounding success. Subject Cole McGrath is developing as early projections predicted. Itinerary should proceed as planned, even with the arrival of Alden Tate._

**_25-9-2010/2236 hrs_**

_Sender: Odin_

_Receiver: Observer_

_Re: Project Savior_

_Message:_

_Your report has been noted; analysis will be taken into consideration. Alden Tate's arrival is neither surprising nor undesired. Sasha and the Reapers will be a good warm-up and Tate will be considered the real exercise before the final stages of the project proceed; the petulant child will be dealt with one way or another. Transport will be provided to relocate you to the Neon District to observe Subject Cole McGrath directly._

**_25-9-2010/2247 hrs_**

_Sender: Observer_

_Receiver: Odin_

_Re: Project Savior_

_Message:_

_I must respectfully decline. Project Savior is running smoothly, my part has since been accomplished. Activation of the Raysphere has had unforeseen side-effects on the populace, empowering conduits throughout the city, almost exponentially outside of the projected numbers. I wish to remain in my current position to run tests. I was guaranteed autonomy following the success of Project Savior and wish to exercise this by appropriating my time to further research on the effects of the Raysphere and the abilities made manifest._

**_25-9-2010/2250 hrs_**

_Sender: Odin_

_Receiver: Observer_

_Re: Project Savior_

_Message:_

_Project Savior will be considered a success when _I _say so._

**_25-9-2010/2251 hrs_**

_Sender: Observer_

_Receiver: Odin_

_Re: Project Savior_

_Message:_

_Need I remind you that without my data, Project Savior would not have proceeded? To relocate now would be superfluous as my presence would be a redundancy. My part as Observer has been completed; if you really must have my say in matters, footage of the subject will suffice._

**_25-9-2010/2255 hrs_**

_Sender: Odin_

_Receiver: Observer_

_Re: Project Savior_

_Message:_

_Need I remind you that Project Savior was going to progress with or without you. Your input, though valued, was not and will never be the deciding factor regarding Project Savior. If I recall, you begged me to be a part of this operation. Just because Project Savior is progressing smoothly is no excuse to shirk you duties. I am well aware of your underground laboratories and the tests that you have been conducting. Your ambition serves you well, but be wary: limits are what keep us human._

_Footage will be forwarded to you and I expect reports. Since you seem so keen on observing other conduits, keep me updated on any that may interfere with Project Savior._

**_25-9-2010/2259 hrs_**

_Sender: Observer_

_Receiver: Odin_

_Re: Project Savior_

_Message:_

_Surpassing those limits is what makes us gods._

_I will observe, analyze, and report._

* * *

_**Day 8**_

_Two days. Amir stayed with me for two days and something makes me think that he plans on staying longer. The morning after the Hospital I was fine, but Amir didn't seem convinced. In truth, I didn't mind the company. It was…nice. Not that I was going to let him know that. Dr. Silver has been keeping Amir and I busy; she would send him out with a team of medics to people with mild injuries while she and I take on the more serious cases of injury. Still, there was something about her that I can't shake…something that I didn't like. _

"So, explain to me again why you're suspicious of Dr. Silver? Because, from where I'm standing we seem to be doing a lot of good," Amir was rechecking his medical bag, ensuring that he had all of his materials. The two were on Gabriel's rooftop, prepping for the day.

Gabriel looked up from the duffle bag that he was packing with food and other supplies. "I don't know. I can't help but feel that she's constantly has me under some kind of…microscope or something."

"Dude, you have super abilities. She's a doctor, I'm sure she wants to study all about you. That's how you intellectual types handle things; you study the hell out of it."

Gabriel placed a hand on his hip and gave Amir a look. "_You_ intellectual types?"

Amir glanced up at Gabriel's piercing stare and smiled. "You were the one who wrote a paper on how you think your abilities work."

"I was coping," muttered Gabriel, glancing away from Amir's triumphant smirk. "That doesn't make her any less annoying. Always asking questions…"

"Look at it as an opportunity to learn more about your abilities, then. She might ask a few questions that you didn't think of. I mean, I really don't see the harm in it. She _is_ connecting us to people that we can help."

Gabriel took a deep breath. "Yes, you are right. Maybe I am just…overreacting," consented Gabriel, frowning a little. At that moment his phone beeped and he clicked the button, activating the walkie-talkie feature.

"Gabriel, this is Doctor Silver. When you're ready, I've located another group that requires our attention. Let Amir know that he is to coordinate with a team of nurses at the park; you and I will be meeting down by the warehouses."

"Will comply, Doctor Silver. See you in a few." Gabriel released the button and sighed. He turned to look at Amir and mustered up something that could have passed for a smile. "See you later, I guess."

"Later," replied Amir, watching as Gabriel jumped over the side of the building

* * *

Gabriel jogged to the warehouse. He could have leaped across rooftops to reach the place, but honestly he needed to be subtle about his power usage. There was no point in drawing attention if the First Sons were interested in capturing him.

It didn't take long to reach the warehouses, located near the piers. The Historic District didn't have a proper warehouse district, per se. That honor belonged to the Warren; however the Historic District did have a few warehouses. Since the Blast many people were rendered homeless (or weren't citizens of Empire City, having only commuting there for work or school) and thus sought refuge wherever they could.

The people milling about were about as destitute as the city. Dirty, hungry, scared faces stared imploringly at him as he walked by.

"Gabriel!" Standing on a corner was Doctor Silver. She didn't look like much of a doctor now, dressed in relatively comfortable street clothes, but there was still that calculating look in her eyes that she couldn't seem to hide. Gabriel approached the woman and she nodded at him. "Follow me."

Around a corner and through an alleyway was all it took before they were approaching an especially dilapidated warehouse. Gabriel remembered that there were people trying to appeal to the mayor's office for the destruction of the abandoned warehouses. They were an 'eyesore'. Interestingly enough, there were others that wished to keep the warehouses around, something to do with them being historic and part of the city's culture. Gabriel found himself wondering if the mayor had survived the Blast and realized that she probably hadn't or else they would have heard something by then.

Doctor Silver looked around before she pushed the door open and gestured for Gabriel to enter. Inside it was dark, but Gabriel could feel the weak and fading life energies. A number of the patients were lying on cots, though even more had to take refuge on the floor. Gabriel set down the duffle bag that he'd been carrying.

"Food and water. There's more at this address," he said, handing a slip of paper over to the woman. The Doctor accepted the slip of paper with a small nod. "Blankets and pillows too. It's starting to get cold out there."

"You really do go above and beyond your calling."

"So, what's the story here?" he asked, though it as a bit of a rhetorical question; more victims of the Blast.

"They were patients that gathered at a few of our ad-hoc medical centers," explained the doctor.

"Then how did they end up here?" Gabriel approached the nearest cot and examined the man briefly before laying hands on the man's shoulder and chest. His hands glowed with green energy and he started the healing process.

"The First Sons."

Gabriel glanced up at the woman, eyes narrowed. "What?"

"The First sons…are attacking our medical outposts. They've hit two this morning. I'm honestly not sure why…though I'm guessing that they're trying to smoke you out."

Gabriel moved on to the next person and started healing her. "Then…Amir…is in danger."

"As are all of our patients. I sent him to the park with the others, so he should be safe, for now. You could go check on him, but I can't guarantee that these people will survive for much longer with immediate aid," she looked quizzically at Gabriel.

"Why didn't you say anything about these attacks when you contacted me?" he asked, allowing for more than a little of his annoyance to come through.

"And what would have you done? Faced down the First Sons?"

"Yes!"

"I've read your paper, so I know that you're capable of feats of super strength and you can probably take one hell of a beating before giving in, however the First Sons are mercenaries through and through. I've watched them…they move with military precision and they have some serious firepower at their disposal. Taking them on would be tantamount to suicide, even with your prodigious abilities. You were more use here, alive."

"Maybe, but should anything happen I can take care of myself; Amir and the others will be in serious danger if they get caught out there by the First Sons!" Even as he argued, Gabriel continued healing; as much as he wanted to rush off and ensure that Amir was safe, but Dr. Silver was right in that these people were on the brink of death. He also noticed that a large number of them had bullet wounds, proving the doctor's story.

"Perhaps, but that's a risk that all of us take by helping out the injured and the dying. Would you ask Amir to sit at home, safe and sound while others are out there suffering? Would you do the same?"

Gabriel looked up at the doctor briefly before he shook his head. "You're distracting me from my task," he said before walking away.

He was getting better at healing; it didn't take too long to work through the room of people. As he healed, Doctor Silver gathered the freshly healed people and started evacuating them. Oddly enough, she was gesturing people to an open manhole.

"How are you doing?" asked Doctor Silver a good twenty minutes later. Gabriel was healing a little girl, fixing an arm that was broken in three separate places. Healing energy washed over the girl's arm, mending the bones, fixing blood vessels, mending muscles. He finished and stepped back, allowing for the girl's mother to collect her freshly healed daughter into a hug.

The woman looked up at Gabriel, a grateful smile on her face. "Thank you…you've given me hope again."

Gabriel turned to the Doctor with a sigh. "I'm fine. Healed a good number of the people here…should be done with the others in about ten minutes, twelve at the most. Why are they leaving through the sewer systems?"

"I don't want to risk us being spotted by the First Sons; a large group of healthy people will draw attention. I've already rigged up a few battery operated lanterns to show a relatively safe path for swift and secretive egress. With the First Sons cracking down we're going to have to take safer precautions…"

There was a loud bang; both Gabriel and the doctor turned to the front door. Gabriel's eyes, now sharper, more powerful, were able to spot the cylinder-shaped objected as it bounced off of the ground.

"Cover your ears!" he shouted as he did the same and turned away, clenching his eyes shut. A second later there was a flash of blinding light accompanied by a deafening high-pitched whine. Gabriel opened his eyes and saw the disoriented and frightened people. He turned to Doctor Silver and saw that the woman was as disoriented as everyone else; grabbing her, he healed her eyes and ears, curing them of the damage done by the flash-bang grenade.

"You need to get everyone out!" he shouted.

Glass rained from the ceiling and men in black uniforms fast-roped into the room. "Doctor Silver, get the patients out of here!" repeated Gabriel before rushing towards one of the soldiers. He fed energy to his legs, making them stronger, making him go faster. While the effect achieved wasn't anywhere near superhuman speed, he was going about as fast as a human could ever hope to run, thus he cleared the distance between himself and the soldier faster than what many would have expected to be possible.

The soldier brought his assault rifle to bear, aiming for Gabriel's center-mass. Gabriel knocked the gun away, however the soldier proved himself to be no slouch, letting the weapon go and slashing out with a knife. The blade slashed across Gabriel's neck, resulting in a spray of blood.

Nobody screamed until Gabriel hit the ground. Blood pooled underneath his head, a vibrant shade of red amongst the black and gray and brown of the warehouse.

"Not so tough of a conduit," muttered one of the soldiers.

"Round 'em up!" ordered one of the others, gesturing to the people that remained. There were screams and cries of protest, the loudest of them coming from Doctor Silver.

A few of the men approached Gabriel. "Let's get a body bag for this one. The Observer wanted him alive, but I guess she'll just have to take him dead."

"Confirm death, soldier. Don't want any nasty surprises."

"Yes, sir!" The man approached and knelt next to the body. He gingerly removed his glove and reached down to touch Gabriel's neck. He thought nothing of it when he felt a brief sting, explaining it as static electricity. "As expected, no pulse. Declared dead on September the—hrk!" The man stiffened before falling over, his body falling into uncontrollable seizures.

"What the hell?" muttered one of the men. Someone when to examine their seizing teammate while another started to approach Gabriel, being perhaps a little more attentive than his compatriots. This attention to detail served him well enough to spot the slight tensing of Gabriel's fist before said fist was suddenly planted into his gut in a blur of speed.

Even as the man doubled over from the sheer force of the punch, even as blood vessels in his stomach ruptured, forcing blood up his throat and splattering from his mouth, even as the man was sent sailing, Gabriel stood.

He moved quick enough to grab the ankle of the man that he'd just sent airborne and swing him around like a bat, striking two soldiers in one swing with his improvised weapon. Gabriel continued with the motion, spinning and hurling the soldier that he still held at another man that was just turning to discover the cause of the commotion. The two men struck with audible force and tumbled to the ground. Still, there were a few more soldiers up and about.

This was proven as one opened fire. The first few bullets struck Gabriel, spurring him into motion and causing for the remaining pedestrians to scream in panic. The healer took cover behind a metal support beam and clenched his eyes shut as he focused his energy into healing; the bullets that were still inside were pushed out by healing flesh.

Gabriel shuddered, feeling the familiar and well-hated chilliness encroach upon him; he reached into a pocket and drew out an energy bar and scarfed it down. It wasn't much, but it did push back the cold feeling…he took stock of the situation.

He scrambled the nervous system of the first soldier, simulating a seizure. He incapacitated another, possibly knocked out two others, and…there was the fifth soldier that he was uncertain of. Judging from the brief glance he'd gotten of the soldiers and the sounds of gunfire, there were three left.

'_Pinned down, no long range attacks, and limited energy…think, think…'_

And that's when he heard it. The sound of a spent clip being ejected. It honestly was a sound that he should have missed, but the fun thing about being enhanced was that all things were enhanced, including his ears.

Without further thought, Gabriel dove out of hiding and rushed towards the soldier that had just ejected his spent clip (which, coincidentally, was the one nearest to him). Gabriel fed energy to his legs, boosting his speed and causing for things around him to slow ever so slightly, as if he were moving through molasses. He could see as the clip slowly fell to the ground, could see the dust that it disturbed upon hitting the ground, could see that it bounced three times before finally resting on the floor, already forgotten.

His attention to detail…was amazing. The soldier only had time to slap in a fresh clip before Gabriel had reached him. The gun was slapped away before he could even fire it, but the man proved to be on his toes, throwing two incredibly swift jabs that Gabriel just as quickly ducked around before throwing his own punch.

The soldier performed a rising block, but Gabriel's punch had enough power behind it to send the man sliding backwards in addition to eliciting a painful snap of bone. The soldier readjusted his fighting stance, drawing a knife, however the way he held the arm that he'd blocked with suggested a broken forearm. The man switched his grip on the knife to a reverse grip; despite the pain he must have been in, his training was enough to work through that.

Gabriel didn't have the time to waste being amazed at his own strength, even as his opponent lunged forward with a decidedly deadly strike. Gabriel dodged and briefly glanced at the other two soldiers; they stopped firing the moment he got close to their comrade, however he could tell that the respite was only brief; soon they would reenter the fray. He danced back from a flurry of strikes.

Gabriel finally saw his opening when the man tried to perform a feint, striking with a forward slash, but Gabriel anticipated the stab that was to follow and thus reached forward, grabbing the man's wrist, and took a step backward while simultaneously pulling the man towards him. The soldier was, effectively, off balance, a fact that Gabriel used to his advantage, stepping forward and twisting the male's arm behind him; the soldier was now at Gabriel's mercy.

Gabriel turned the soldier to face the others, who decided at that moment to open fire. Most of the bullets that did hit were absorbed by the soldier's body armor and anything that didn't hit his body armor hit the soldier; Gabriel, however, was safe for the moment. Not one to rest on his laurels, Gabriel rushed forward, holding his human shield in front of him as he made a bee-line for the nearest soldier.

The soldier was a firm adherent to the school of thought known as 'More Dakka'; that is to say, he believed that most problems could be solved with more bullets. Thus why he ditched his rifled and drew a pair of mini-uzis, unleashing wall of bullets. Unfortunately, said bullets were still absorbed by his teammate. The man didn't realize his underestimation of body armor's (and the human body's) capacity for bullet absorption. Gabriel showed him the error of his ways by slamming his unfortunate body-shield into his compatriot, driving both men into the ground, all without losing a beat as he continued towards his last target.

Two down, one to go.

As the lone remaining soldier opened fire. Gabriel zig-zagged, dodging some of the bullets, but getting hit by more than a few. It didn't matter, however; he continued to his target; he held out an arm and, at the speed he was going, was able to perform a powerful enough close-line to knock the man off of his feet.

Gabriel paused to examine the damage that he'd just done. He looked at the remaining citizens, many of which were looking back in fear. To his surprise, someone started to clap. It was a slow clap, hesitant at first, but it gained momentum as others joined in. Gabriel almost smiled until the wave of dizziness struck him. He took a knee and struggled to simply not hit the ground; his body felt weak and frigid.

"Gabriel, drink this," said Doctor Silver, pushing something to his lips. Gabriel gulped down the protein shake. "I've never seen you move like that. It would seem that you're capable of manipulating some kind of…life energy. You can use it to heal yourself and others, or you can also utilize it to enhance your physical attributes. Simply amazing!"

"Not a good time…to start discussing your hypothesis, doctor. They're going to send more. These people need to get out of here," replied Gabriel, looking up at the woman. Doctor Silver nodded and hurried over to the remaining patients, ushering them into the sewers.

Gabriel was just standing when something torn into him with enough force to throw him to the ground one more. The screams of the bystanders became muted, as did color; the world was silent, black and white. Gabriel coughed up blood; he was dying, of that he was certain. He turned to look at the person who shot him and saw one of the First Sons. He was larger in size, bulkier. The man then did something even more surprising and faded from view.

'_So, that's how he snuck up on me…'_ thought Gabriel. He could feel himself fading and wondered if he was really going to die, on the dirty floor of a warehouse. _'I've barely just started…there's still so much for me to do….so much for me to learn. I can't give up…not now.'_ Darkness set in and Gabriel lowered his head, resting it on the cool ground. _'I can't…I can't….'_ He was floating in the darkness…drifting towards the muting embrace of death. _'Amir…'_

A green light flared in the darkness. There was warmth; faint at first, but soon it burned hot. The green light expanded, pushing back the dark. He could hear himself screaming; he tried to stop, but continued to yell.

Gabriel stood from the ground, brimming with green energy; the ragged wound that the shotgun tore into him healed within seconds. Gabriel blinked and looked directly at Doctor Silver and the remaining bystanders. "Leave, now!" He waited until everyone left, eyes watching the seemingly empty portions of the room; the invisible man was still around, just…invisible.

"Gabriel." The conduit looked at Doctor Silver; she was the only person left. Her gleaming gray eyes seemed somehow less searching at that moment. "Be careful."

Gabriel silently nodded before turning away from the woman as she lowered herself down the ladder leading into the sewers. Now "alone", Gabriel closed his eyes and focused. He could _feel_ the life energy of the people that he had just healed and Doctor Silver; he couldn't individualize them, but he could feel them, underground. Good. He could feel his own energy…his was blazing like a mini-sun right now. And he could also feel…

Without warning, Gabriel turned, the palm of his right hand cupping the barrel of the shotgun while his left hand pushed down on the butt-stock, effectively flipping the weapon so that when it fired the powerful bullets tore into the invisible conduit's head.

The now visible man slumped to the ground, dying. Gabriel sighed, but didn't allow himself to relax. He looked around at the destruction that he had wrought and looked down at his hands.

"I will not be a murderer…" Gabriel knelt next to the dying man and laid his hands on him, healing the damage done by the shotgun. He didn't bring the man to consciousness, instead leaving him knocked out. He then went to the others, healing their injuries as well.

By the time back-up had arrived, they found their own in perfect health, but no sign of the healing conduit or the injured citizens.

* * *

Gabriel rushed through the park, uncaring that he looked like a bloody mess. He found the clinic and spotted Amir. He was wrapping an elderly woman's arm and, as if feeling eyes on him, he looked up at Gabriel. Amir smiled and Gabriel found himself returning Amir's smile. Seeing that smile made him feel like everything would be alright.

Gabriel waved at Amir before jogging over. They hugged, as was their now customary greeting. Amir became aware of the mess that was Gabriel's shirt and pulled back, looking down at the bullet torn clothing.

"What happened to you?" he asked, suddenly concerned. "Are the patients ok? Are you?"

"I'm fine, they're fine, just a little incident, nothing to worry about," replied Gabriel, his smile staying. "Everyone…is alright."

* * *

**A/N:**

So, a couple things to address here. The 'messages' have a date-stamp and, if you were super observant, you'd noticed that it was dated September 25th of 2010. While the game never really gives too many indications of what time of year it is, the presence of jackets and coats leads one to believe that it must be fall or perhaps even early winter. I've decided to go with fall, deciding that it is a cold yet dry fall. I decided September just because and I decided to have the story take place in this year because…well, why not?

Now, as to the identities of the messengers, 'Odin', 'Observer', and 'Raven', the only thing that I'll divulge is that they're all codenames. As to their identities, well, that will be revealed in due time. You're more than welcome to give you theories in reviews, however =3.

As for the ending, I feel like it was a little rushed and a little odd, but I really wanted to finish this chapter and move on to the next. Sorry if anything seems unclear. I am writing this without a beta, so perhaps I should look into getting a beta.

Also, I feel like Gabriel's abilities seem a little vague still. Without giving too much away, I will say that Gabriel's core ability is life-force manipulation, which allows him to heal himself and others, as well as explains his incredible strength, stamina, and endurance. He also has specific things he can do with his ability, kind of similar how Cole's core ability is electricity manipulation, however he is capable of a variety of things, using electricity.

Next chapter should be up soon and shall be special; keep an eye out for it. Now, the reviews:

**Jean Curtis:** Thank you for your review! I'm glad that Gabriel doesn't seem like a Gary-Stu; I'd really rather than he wasn't. Because, really, I'd rather he not be a Gary-Stu, not to mention that it's kind of unnecessary; I like the inFAMOUS storyline, I just saw wiggle room to add a few more things, so hopefully my additions aren't terrible. I'm also glad that you appreciate Gabriel's ability to heal; while this story was a little more action packed, Gabriel still is a healer at heart.

**Rena:** First off, let me apologize for the confusion in the dialogue; I'll try to sift through and fix those errors and I think that I've improved with this chapter. Thank you for your comments, I'm flattered and I hope that I can prove you right by writing a fantastic story. Thank you and I hope that you keep reading!

Please, read and review, for fanfiction is about community writing, I think; your reviews help me out and let me know what I'm doing right and what I might need to work on in the future.


	6. Interlude I

**A/N:** As of this chapter, the timeline is a day after the game begins (Day 15 post quarantine, making it Day 17 post Blast, I believe)

_**Interlude I:**_

_New Faces, Old Memories_

**_The Hero_**

Cole liked to climb. When he first took up parkour it was only for a few reasons, the main one being to supplement his job as a courier. Sure, it kept him in shape, but then again his health was never really a problem or a concern. Yeah, it was fun, but with his job he had little time for fun; the quicker a package was delivered the better. A quick delivery meant his boss not jumping down his throat feet first. Sure, being a courier wasn't the best job, but it paid the bills.

But Cole liked parkour, because when he was running, when he was flinging himself across the empty spaces, when his mind was seeing pathways and shortcuts where others saw drab buildings and precarious edges, Cole was able to think. Just by looking at him, many would not take Cole to be a thinking man and normally this was the case. Looking too hard only hurt the eyes, right? No, normally Cole took a simplistic, straightforward approach to life. His parents always wanted more for him; a career, a nice house, a college education. That wasn't for Cole, however. As long as he had enough money to pay the bills, buy food and cloths (when he needed them), and a little something for a fun time, he was good. He often had complicated and deep thoughts, but they usually just stayed as thoughts.

Then the Blast happened. A portion of the city destroyed, the rest in ruins, people living in fear. Murders, raping, pillaging…society committing suicide. That was only the beginning; he got electrical abilities out of the deal, but in exchange for his girlfriend's trust and the city's fear and hatred. He was pinpointed as 'The Terrorist'. Everyone blamed _him_ for the explosion.

Sometimes he suspected that even Zeke was a little nervous around him. It wasn't that his buddy was acting completely different, but sometimes there were eggshells being unnecessarily stepped around, but Cole wasn't in the mood to address that matter. They were still speaking, he was still able to take refuge on Zeke's roof, so for now it was a matter not worth looking into.

No, what was on Cole McGrath's mind was Trish. She wasn't his first serious relationship, but she was the longest and the one he felt most confident in. His two other serious relationships ended due to infidelity…the first was on her end, the second was on his and he felt terrible about it. With Trish it was different; she was honest, for one. She didn't hold back what she had to say and that was refreshing. She was intelligent, dedicated, as well as kind. Trish wasn't perfect but neither was he; she was his and he was hers…at least, until he was pinned as The Terrorist. Now she wouldn't even speak to him and it deeply bothered Cole, a lot more than what he showed. To his credit, it wasn't machismo that kept him quiet on the topic of Trish, rather it was part of Cole's nature. Instead of complaining about it, he threw himself into his current tasks.

Besides, there were bigger problems. They needed to get out of the city, him, Zeke, and Trish, even if she wasn't on speaking terms with him. To do that he needed to work with Moya. He didn't trust her; there were things that she wasn't telling him. He was under no illusions here: she was using him, just like he was using her. He'd get her John and the Raysphere, she'd get him a ticket out of dodge before anything worse could happen. Still, there was something bigger going on here and she knew more than what she let on. Was she a DARPA spook like Zeke suggested? Most likely. Should she get the Raysphere? He didn't know, didn't care. He just wanted _out_.

Cole threw himself over to a parallel roof and rolled to soften his landing. He glared down at the Reaper. He'd been tailing the little creep for the past four minutes. Apparently the Reaper was delivering something. The last Reaper-courier he followed had Blast Shards, maybe this one did too.

Blast Shards were interesting little things. Glowing with residual energy, anytime he'd touch one he'd absorb the energy. Absorb enough and he'd feel himself become more powerful. If there was one thing that Moya was right about, it was about how important it was that he grew stronger. The Reapers were bad enough, but he had a sinking feeling that things were about to get worse before they'd get better.

Cole snuck along the edge of the roof and shimmied down a pipe; the Reaper was placing what looked to be a paper bag underneath a dumpster. Cole paused his descent and stretched out a hand, skillfully firing a bolt of electricity at the Reaper's head; the electricity traveled through his body, setting off the explosives strapped to the man's chest. The guy exploded, none the wiser of who killed him. Cole dropped down the rest of the way and landed easily. He rushed over to the dumpster.

"Good thing I decided to take care of him…" he muttered, eying the body of the Reaper as he knelt down to claim what he hoped were Blast Shards. "Kamikaze ones are my least favorite."

"Mine too," agreed a young voice. Cole looked up just in time to see the kick that hit right in the face. Cole stumbled back, but didn't fall. He looked at his attacker, hand raised to fire off some blue justice when he paused.

"But you're a—"

"Say kid and I'll kill you," replied the girl. She wasn't really tall, but was on her way. Cole figured she was a preteen, if he were forced to guess. She was all skin and bones, though that didn't stop her from having an aura of intensity. Cream colored skin and sharp hazel eyes. A red cap sat on her head, though a few bits of black hair peeked out from underneath the hat. She wore a green military jacket that was two sizes too large, a red tank top underneath, and baggy cargo pants tucked into black combat boots. She lowered her foot and crouched, giving Cole a glare of what could only have been hatred.

"Actually, I'll kill you twice. Once for killing my parents, twice for insulting me!" He noticed a slight Spanish accent.

"Kill your parents…?" echoed Cole, though a second later he realized what she was referring to. The Blast, of course, and his newest title of 'Terrorist'. While never a big fan of the Voice of Survival, his ire for the tv jacker elevated to hatred in that moment. For some reason the insults and rocks tossed his way didn't do it; it took a child to make the unwanted moniker of Terrorist to finally hit home. "Now just wait a second, I didn't mean—!"

"Save it! You think that you're fooling anyone with your act? You think that knocking a few skulls in is going to get people to _forgive_ you? It's because of you that the city is the way it is in the _**first**_ place! It's because of you that people are starving and dying, that there are so many children right now without parents, that _**I**_ don't have my parents!"

"Listen, kid, I'm not the one responsible!" Maybe yelling back wasn't the most adult response, but the girl had hit a nerve and Cole reacted.

The hatred on the girl's face increased and crystallized into an unnatural calm. "Oh, I'll show you kid," she said as she slowly stood. Cole raised an eyebrow and by the time he realized his mistake, the girl had disappeared in a flash of dark purple light. While the Reaper conduits could kind of teleport, it was short range and more of a blurring effect…this girl was not part of the Reapers, obviously.

By the time Cole reached this conclusion the girl reappeared in front of him and her foot lashed out in swift sidekick that struck his solar plexus. Cole doubled over, as the girl backflipped, her foot striking the man's chin. His lead snapped back and he hit the ground, groaning.

"This is it? This is the big bad terrorist of Empire City? Slayer of thousands…brought to his knees by a little girl. Pathetic."

"Hey, you're the one that didn't like being called a kid," grumbled the electrokinetic. Cole rubbed his jaw as he stood, glaring at the girl who glared back at Cole, arms held akimbo.

"Huh, so, you can't fight anyone who puts up a fight. This should be fun!" The girl disappeared in a purple flash and reappeared, swinging a fist and punching Cole across the face, flickered out of and into existence again, another fist waiting for Cole. As much as he hated to admit it, the girl had some force behind her blows. The hit barely registered before feet were planted in his chest. The drop kick floored him.

"Come on! Strike back at me, make it rain lightning, smack me! Do _**SOMETHING!**_"

Cole looked up at the girl before he shook his head. He brushed off his clothing as he stood. "I've never been in the habit of hitting kids and I don't plan on starting anytime soon. Go home."

The girl's glare faltered and the hatred gave way to something else. "Because of you…I don't have a home to go to." She turned away, disappearing in a brief flash of purple and reappearing near the dumpster. She grabbed the paper bag. A scant blue glow confirmed the fact that there were, indeed, Blast Shards inside. "I'm letting you go this time…though the next time we meet, I _will_ kill you." Even though the words were said by a kid, Cole took her seriously. He'd never heard anyone else speak with such gravitas.

In a purple flash the girl disappeared.

Cole wiped some blood off of his lip and sighed. "Why does it seem like my relationship with women has been suffering lately?" he pondered, a bit sardonically. Still, the 'fight' with the girl was sobering. So many kids, orphaned. It wasn't like he meant to end so many lives, yet at the same time there was an overbearing weight of responsibility. Cole allowed himself the luxury of self pity for a few more seconds before the sound of distant gunfire reminded him of the job he had to do. Cole scaled the nearest wall and, as he rushed towards the source of the conflict, he thought about all of the people who were left behind to pick up the pieces. He thought of the little girl.

He thought of Trish.

**-********tempora heroica** -

_heroic times_

* * *

"_In all of this chaos, we shouldn't forget that we're still human. If you see a kid scavenging for food, do the responsible thing and give them some of your supplies. The children are our future; Voice of Survival out."_

* * *

_**The Nurse**_

Trish groaned as another sharp pain briefly assaulted her head.

Ever since the Blast life had been one never-ending headache. It was stress, she knew it, but there was little she could do. She barely had time to mourn her sister before she threw herself into the task of using her medical skills to help the injured and dying. She almost lost Cole and that thought was unbearable. She thought that it was a good thing that he had survived but when it was revealed that he was the terrorist…

The only thing she could see was Amy's face. The only thing she could hear was Amy's laughter. Amy was such a bratty little sister at times, but Trish knew that she was also a bossy older sister and at times they would clash, but they had more good times than bad. They had a strong bond; Amy was more than just her sister, but her best friend. They talked about everything together…

* * *

"_So…" mused Amy, smirking over her bowl of ice cream. They always met for ice-cream at Dannie's Creamery, a little mom & pop ice cream shop in the Historic District. "I think that Cole's gonna pop the question soon." _

_Trish raised her eyebrows and laughed in an attempt to distract from her sudden blush. "What makes you think that?" _

"_I was talking to Christine and she agrees that it's __so__ obvious. I mean, you guys have been together forever and seriously, you should see the way he looks at you. He adores you. He may be a little thick-headed at times, but I honestly doubt Cole is the kind of guy to let you slip through his fingers."_

_Trish smiled softly and glanced down at her ice-cream. She wondered if she would say yes were Cole to ask her to marry him. There was the fact that he was a courier…but in all honesty, money didn't really bother her. She didn't want a pretentious man who was more impressed by his own accomplishments than anything else. She didn't want someone who was concerned with money or appearance or social bearing. She wanted…Cole. _

_She glanced up, realizing she hadn't responded to Amy yet and saw the knowing smirk on the young girl's face. Trish smiled and dipped her spoon into Amy's bowl of fudge-drowned and sprinkle laden vanilla ice-cream. "So, you're a relationship expert all of a sudden now?" asked Trish amongst Amy's token cry of protest. _

"_An expert enough to know that you'd probably say yes if he did ask!" retorted Amy, returning the favor by dipping her own spoon into Trish's mint chocolate chip ice-cream. Trish ate her ice-cream with a silent smile. _

"_Yeah, I probably would."_

* * *

That was only a week before the Blast. A blaring horn brought Trish back to reality and she spurred her ambulance through the intersection, wiping quickly at her eyes. She missed Amy. Some small part of her was glad that Amy wasn't around to see the horrors that the city had reverted to, but she still missed her little sister. They were all each other had anymore. When Trish and Amy were in their teens their parents died in a car accident. At only eighteen, Trish had to take care of herself and Amy, though they managed to make it work.

The fact that Cole had cruelly snatched her away…it twisted the knife in her heart, only causing more pain. That Cole was responsible for countless deaths and pointless suffering…it was too large of a betrayal for her mind to handle, so she opted not to think of it, but the stress was still there. That coupled with the lack of sleep that came from constant running around the Neon District and seeing to injured citizens made for a delicious migraine waiting to happen.

Trish reached for the bottle of aspirin in the cup holder and single-handedly popped the cap and shook two pills into her mouth. She reached for her water bottle and took a generous gulp, swallowing the pills and hoping for quick chemical relief. She pulled to a stop and parked closely to the sidewalk.

Grabbing her medical bag, she climbed out of the ambulance and ran across the street and up the stairs to the small plaza-cum-medical center. A man dressed in a bright orange jacket approached with a familiar smile and, despite the impromptu eye-patch, a familiar face.

"Jackson!"

"Hey, Trish!" the two hugged tightly. "Glad to see that you made it through, kid," said Jackson after the hug ended.

"I'm glad that you did too!"

"How's Amy, is she-?"

Trish's smile died and she shook her head. "She...she didn't…"

Jackon's face dropped. "I'm sorry to hear that, Trish. So, what are you doing here?"

"Helping out, of course," replied Trish, gesturing with her medical bag, her voice a little shaky, though grateful for the topic change. Trish looked at the people laying on the gurneys, some unnaturally still, others cringing with pain.

"And boy do we need it."

Trish peered at the middle-aged man and winced, examining the dirty bandage. "But first, let me see to your supposed eye-patch."

"Nah, its fine. They need our help more than I do," muttered Jackson, gesturing at the patients. Trish raised an eyebrow and pointed to a nearby table. Before the Blast the small plaza housed a café, but now there was no room for luxuries in the game of survival.

"Bull. If your injury gets infected you won't be able to help anyone; on top of that, that'll be more medical supplies being used to help you instead of going to someone else, had you let me clean your wound. Sit." Hearing both the logic in Trish's argument and the no-nonsense steel in her voice, the man sighed but complied. Trish carefully unwrapped the patch, cleaned the injured area, and wrapped up the wound with clean gauze. She rummaged around in her bag and pulled out an eye-patch. She handed to Jackson, who laughed upon seeing the thing.

"You're very resourceful, you know that?" he asked as he took the eye-patch and put it on. Trish returned his smile with one of her own.

"You are too. I heard that someone had set this place up and then that the Reapers had taken it. How did you get it back?"

"Actually, I had some help from your boyfriend, Empire City's most wanted. You know, I found it hard to believe that Cole was the one that set off the bomb. And those abilities…hoo-boy, you should'a seen how he sent those ratfinks running!" Jackson laughed and shook a fist. It was almost as if he was told that his favorite baseball team had won the World Series; he was _rooting_ for Cole.

His exuberance faded when he noticed Trish look away with a frown. "Oh…oh no. Please tell me that you don't actually _believe_ that he—"

"Well what am I supposed to believe! You saw the footage…he delivered the bomb. He caused all of this. He's the reason why they're in pain right now," Trish gestured over to the injured people, her voice raising. "The man that I loved killed my sister," she said, voice breaking, "Right now…I just don't know _what_ to think anymore." Trish clenched her eyes shut; her headache raged with a vengeance and tears threatened. She couldn't cry right now, didn't deserve to cry…

"Hey, hey, look at me," Trish looked up at Jackson's gentle smile. "I know that this is hard, but you have to ask yourself; are you throwing yourself into helping people because you care or because some part of you feels guilty? Like you have to somehow fix all of this mess?"

The question floored Trish; while a part of her felt that it should have been self evident, that she only wanted to help, another part of her wondered if it was true…that she was trying to clean up 'Cole's mess'. As it turned out, the question was rhetorical. "This Cole…he's trying to fix things. He's beatin' back the scum that's terrorizing our streets, he's healing people on the spot, he sure did me a solid by getting this place up and running. I shook hands with him and looked him in the eye, man to man. And, while I'm no genius, I have to say that my forty-three years has given me some kind of insight and I can honestly say that he's a stand-up man. He's not the sort to cause all of this and stick around afterwards to pick up the pieces."

Trish bit her lip and looked down at the table, shaking her head. "I don't know, Jackson. I…"

"Hey, let's save this for later; we got some people to take care of."

Grateful for the offered distraction, Trish agreed and followed Jackson over to the patients. Setting broken bones, sewing stitches, treating a variety of wounds, removing shrapnel; these were things that she could handle. Unfortunately as many injuries as she was able to treat, there were just as many as she could not.

"If only we had access to better facilities. I can't help but feel useless," muttered Trish to Jackson as the man approached. Jackson grunted, agreeing with the young woman.

"Unfortunately we only have these slapdash clinics to rely on. Most pharmacies have been raided by now or are controlled by the Reapers. There's Empire General Hospital, but with the bridges out no one's reaching the Warren and besides that place was a hell hole _before_ the Blast; I shudder to think what it looks like now."

Trish blew out a puff of air. "Some power has already been restored to part of the Neon. Maybe as more power is restored we can lower the bridges and get these people some treatment."

Jackson gave her a grin. "Eh, always the optimist, you know that? How would you get the injured from here to there?"

It didn't take her long to find an answer. "I have a friend that's an engineer. Maybe he can throw something together. Provided the bridges get lowered, of course."

"Well, hey, let me know how that works out. Seriously. For now, come over here; there's something I want your opinion on." Jackson led her over to a gurney set aside from the others. Laying on it was a man clutching his head and letting out the occasional moan of pain.

"One of the plague victims," muttered Trish. As they got closer she realized that the man was muttering something between the occasional grunts of pain.

"…she's whispering…she's whispering….I—I can hear her…make her stop…._please_…MAKE HER STOP!"

Jackson shifted his weight and shook his head. "Yeah, so it seems, but…I don't quite remember psychosis being a symptom of the plague."

"Well, hallucination is actually a symptom of the plague, along with high fever and somatic weakness. Some lose higher functioning skills, all complain of pain," replied Trish, easily rattling off the known symptoms of the plague. The man had a violent coughing fit, during which he coughed up black tar-like phlegm.

The coughing fit ended and the man suddenly stopped moving. Jackson rushed forward to check the man's vitals and Trish moved forward to begin CPR, but when she opened his mouth more of the black ooze dribbled out of the side of his mouth. She tilted his head back and opened his mouth only to see more of the tar-like substance in his mouth; some began to ooze out of his nose and ears.

"Jackson…I don't think there's any saving him," said Trish, voice distant.

The man muttered an oath but was too drained to really react any further. "What is this shit? I never seen anything like it."

"I have. I think it's the source of the plague. Cole…discovered something." Trish thought back to her recent interaction with her ex-boyfriend with a frown. Last night, at the fountain. "The Reapers have been contaminating the fountain near here with a strange tar-like substance. The substance that this man coughed up appears to be similar in color and consistency to the tar." Trish looked down at the man and sighed before reaching forward to shut the man's eyes. _'Are you responsible for this too, Cole?' _She still didn't know what to believe. She wanted to believe that Cole was helping out, that he wasn't the cause, but…there was still doubt.

"So, what do you think?"

"I think…that I should take a sample of this and compare it to samples I've taken from the fountain. In the meantime, I've managed to mix up a solvent that weakens the tar. Maybe we can figure out a cure for the plague."

Trish looked over at Jackson when he laid a hand on her shoulder; he was smiling. "I'm glad you came by. It's people like you that keeps puttin' good in the world so that the bad never outweighs it."

For the first time since the Blast Trish smiled and it actually felt sincere.

-**ad perpetuam memoriam** -

_to the perpetual memory_

* * *

**_25-9-2010/2235 hrs_**

_Sender: Raven_

_Receiver: Odin_

_Re: Observer_

_Message:_

_The Observer is moving forward with research. A particular case has caught the Observer's eye. Possibility of Observer going rouge is high. _

**_25-9-2010/2236 hrs_**

_Sender: Odin_

_Receiver: Raven_

_Re: Observer_

_Message:_

_The Observer's loyalties are inconsequential at this point. Keep an eye on the Observer and this 'case'. Follow the Observer's orders but make reports to me._

**_25-9-2010/2237 hrs_**

_Sender: Raven_

_Receiver: Odin_

_Re: Observer_

_Message:_

_Affirmative. _

* * *

**_The Student_**

Anemone sighed as she looked at the trash heap in front of her. After graduating college she saw herself going a lot of places…a trash heap wasn't one of them. Then again when terrorists attacked the city and a plague resulted in total lock-down it wasn't too surprising that one was met with limited options.

Anemone Fairchild had the misfortune of being born to parents who decided to go through a hippie phase right before she was born. As a result she was stuck with an odd name, raised in an odd household, and had little to no expectations forced upon her; it wasn't as if they thought that she was incapable, no, quite the contrary. They wanted to give her proper room to make her own path. They were understandably confused as to why she was so focused, so serious, so…_scientific._

Still, their lack of grand expectations was a bit of a godsend and her parents' oddness allowed for her to handle crazy situations with relative ease. Granted, there was very little that could prepare one for a terrorist attack, or getting stuck in a city where most of the population was scared of the other portion which was decidedly out of their minds.

Of course, getting kidnapped by a bunch of men and women wearing garbage bags because she was an engineering student was perfectly within her range of coping ability. Being worked day in and day out wasn't even that bad; it was no different than what her work load was like, or so it had seemed. The only difference was that she was actually helping to build something instead of just learning about it. No, the thing that she didn't like was the whole 'slave' bit. She didn't like being commanded on what to do, she didn't like all of the lewd comments that were made towards herself and any other female engineer (rare creatures, at least in Empire City), and she definitely didn't like it when one of the trash-baggers tried copping a feel, which happened more often than what she liked (read: ALL THE TIME).

Anemone was not a particularly violent woman, however she was not particularly the sort of woman that took a lot of crap from anyone, herself included. As it were, at the point in time when her life took a turn for the weird, it was three thirty in the morning, she was officially fifteen hours without sleep, cranky, hungry, and of course had the headaches of headaches pounding away at her skull. It was doing its best to cross over into migraine territory to compete in the 'Worst Migraine of the Century' contest.

"Ok, Marco, weld that piece right there," she said to her companion, whom she dubbed as 'Marco'. He couldn't speak English to save his life but he could at least understand it. He tried telling her his name time and again but she gave up on understanding him and settled on 'Marco'. Apparently he agreed because he responded to it. Under normal circumstances she would have tried a little harder to understand and perhaps might have even felt bad about how she was approaching the situation like a typical American but they made a pretty good team, language barrier be damned. She directed, he welded, she tightened things with screws and such, he got what she needed, he was even a comfy pillow whenever they managed to catch some sleep. Too bad she opted to take German in high school and continue with it throughout college.

Marco spat something in Spanish and started working on the directed area. "Good…good…" Anemone yawned and stretched as she turned to look out at the dark metropolis. The Warren was pitch black, save the occasional flash of gunfire. Anemone felt oddly proud of the fact that she was helping construct the tallest building in Empire City. It was one hell of an eyesore and was obviously compensation for something…lacking, however it was sturdy as hell, being able to withstand a horrific storm and most earthquakes (even though they didn't need to worry about either, still better safe than sorry, right?) and it was structurally sound.

Her gaze transferred to the men milling about near the edge of the platform. Trash-baggers, Transients, Dust Men...whatever they were calling themselves. The only thing nastier than their attitudes were their uniforms. They were standing guard, as if it was needed. She, Marco, and their fellow workers were at the very top of the ludicrously large building. The only way out was down…down…down…and SPLAT. She had to admit, some days it was kind of appealing, the thought of dying. She was cold, hungry, and tired of the bullshit. Anemone knew that once their purpose was served she and all the others were going to die. People like the trash-baggers were too short-sighted to think about the future; they only lived in the now.

Still…suicide was a largely personal decision. Anemone glanced down at the chain that was locked tightly around her waist. It was connected to a chain that was likewise locked around Marco's. If one died, so did the other. And, even if she didn't even know his real name and could communicate with him, the one thing that her hippie parents taught her was what respect for life was all about.

Anemone noticed belatedly that one of the Transients was approaching she and Marco.

"No break, sweet-heart," said one of the trash-baggers as he drifted by a little too closely for Anemone's comfort, "Unless…you wanna give me a massage? I have a lot of tension…somewhere around the inner part of my leg…think you can…work it out for me?"

'_He's going to slap my ass,' _she thought, preparing herself mentally for what was going to happen. She didn't notice that Marco had stopped wielding and lifted his protective mask to turn and glare up at the approaching man.

And, as predicted, the man slapped the anticipated part of her anatomy, causing her to jump slightly. She didn't blush, however she did look away and glared at the ground. The man laughed and moved even closer, as if her silence was the same thing as permission. He was going to whisper something lewd and sexually suggestive in her ear; she wandered how long it was going to take for this to happen. She knew what happened to the other females (and even a few of the males); she heard the sobs, the pleas for mercy. Anemone knew that she wasn't the best looking, but she wasn't the worst either. Five nine, built like a twig, shoulder length black hair (that was in need of a comb's taming touch), dull grey eyes hidden behind a pair of oval-shaped glasses…she wasn't anything special. But, she was a warm body and that's all that mattered to those animals.

Before she could say or do anything, before the trash-bagger could say something that amounted to his version of something smooth and sexy, a fist was introduced to his trash-bag covered face. From the wet crack, she imagined that a nose was broken. As the man hit the ground, Anemone turned to look at 'Marco'. He was glaring down at the trash-bagger, a livid expression on his face. He turned and looked at Anemone and it was like a moment of understanding had passed between them.

Anemone found herself nodding and he nodded back.

"Hey!" shouted one of the trash-baggers, running to confront them. Two others flanked him. Anemone glanced around for a weapon and found a discarded wrench. By the time she reached down to pick it up, the three were already upon them. A foot struck her shoulder, knocking her down. The man fell on top of her, bringing with him a rancid gust of body-sweat and trash. Before he could even get comfortable he was knocked off by Marco. The two other men tackled Marco to the ground and started wrestling with him.

Anemone crawled towards the barely visible writhing pile of bodies when someone yanked her hair, dragging her back. Her headache spiked into migraine territory as she scream and threw an elbow behind her.

"Get off!" she shouted as her elbow connected. She honestly didn't think it would hit, thus she was surprised when she not only hit but felt the presence behind her disappear. As she turned to look to see where the man went, she felt a tug of her chain and muffled Spanish being spat out. Remembering Marco, she grabbed the dropped wrench and jumped on top of one of the trash-baggers. She brought her wrench down on the man's head until he fell to the ground and stopped moving. Marco weaponized the chain into a makeshift garrote, choking the other trash-bagger.

There was more shouting; two other men near the edge of the platform, guards. They were taking aim. Marco released the man he choked to death, but he wasn't moving fast enough and even if his hands were free what would he do? The trash-baggers had weapons, while they didn't…

Anemone wasn't sure what inspired her to do it, but she threw the wrench she held at one of the men. By all rights it should have flown a few feet at the most before flopping to the ground pathetically…but it didn't. Instead, it sailed right at her target and struck him in the head with enough force to cause his head to snap back. He stumbled backwards before falling over the edge.

His partner was so surprised that he turned to look at his falling companion, a mistake that would soon prove to be fatal. Anemone and Marco looked at each other and shared a 'moment' again where, without words at all they seemed to have come up with a plan and agree on it. They both grabbed the chain that bound them and rushed towards the lone guard.

Hearing their footfalls the man looked up at them but, the sight of the two prisoners rushing at him with their chain stretched out between them yet again stunned him. Were he a seasoned warrior, this wouldn't have surprised him. He would have known that prey was at its most fierce when backed into a corner with naught but despair and certain death facing them. He would have known that dying on their terms would be much more preferable to a slow and uncertain death.

To his credit, he did fire his weapon. He aimed in Anemone's direction. Anemone saw this but her adrenaline was pumping and she was in an all-or-nothing mindset; she was tired of being worked to the bone, tired of waiting for a death that would surely come. Anyone who was impulsive enough to build a giant tower for little to no reason in the middle of a city just recovering from a terrorist attack would likely lack the foresight to keep any engineers around to fix said building when (not if) complications arose.

Besides, Anemone never lived her life on anyone else's terms but her own. She planned on dying the way that she lived: because she chose to.

Thus, she didn't care when the trash-bagger aimed his weapon at her and fired (at least she would die because of her own actions, not because she was executed). She saw the flash of the muzzle, but didn't feel the impacts. She chalked it up to adrenaline and expected any moment that she would stumble and fall but she didn't…so she kept running.

The only one who had a clear idea of what happened was the trash-bagger and even then seeing the events with a somewhat objective mind didn't help much; case in point, the bullets _deflected_ off of her. Even in his frightened state the man was able to put together two and two. He had seen the whole attack, or enough of it that he had a pretty clear picture of what was going on. He had seen Anemone elbow a man off of her, sending said man _flying_ with more force than was humanly possible. He had heard the squishy crunch of his buddy's skull caving in when she had threw the wrench at him. The bullets bouncing off of her…well, one plus one equaled conduit.

He came to the realization a little too late, as Marco and Anemone reached him and ran past him, throwing themselves off of the building. Even as the chain that connected the two escapees wrapped around his middle and dragged him off of the building as well, the man could only wonder if Anemone knew that she was a conduit too and, if so, why had she stayed captive for so long.

As they fell, Anemone and Marco shared one more look before both yanked on the chain, slinging the trash-bagger caught in their chain downwards so that he would hit the ground before them. Anemone felt simultaneously relieved yet pained. Her headache was still getting worse. She felt someone grabbed her hand and looked over at a smiling Marco. Anemone looked back down at the ground that was rushing up to greet them.

'_I don't want to die…'_ she thought. It wasn't fear so much as it was regret. So much of her life remained unlived. She didn't have any high ambitions that she felt the need to reach, yet at the same time she wanted to die on her terms. This whole situation…she didn't choose it. Even though suicide was her own terms, the fact was the situation as a whole wasn't on _her_ terms.

'_It isn't fair…'_ she thought, aware that the concept of 'fairness' was rather juvenile, _'…I don't want this. This…this isn't how I wanted to die…'_

The man that she and Marco had thrown ahead of them hit the ground. Her headache reached new heights of pain never before experienced.

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" shouted Anemone as her cranial pain peaked.

Silence.

When Anemone realized that she'd closed her eyes she opened them and saw nothing but gray. For a brief moment she thought that she was in limbo until a small river of red crept across her vision. Blood…and it wasn't hers. Anemone looked to her left and noticed one of the two bodies of the trash-baggers that she was responsible for. She looked to her right when she noticed a stream of Spanish. Marco, eyes wide, was staring at her with fear and amazement. Anemone looked down at their hands and noticed that she was glowing with a yellow light.

She gasped in surprise and both she and Marco hit the ground. Anemone gathered herself to her knees before dry-heaving. There was nothing in her stomach to regurgitate, yet her body insisted on going through the motions. Meanwhile Marco had produced a crucifix from underneath his shirt and began praying profusely.

"How very interesting. Conduits are rare as it is, however people like you…well, they're even rarer."

Anemone coughed and spat on the ground before looking up at an elderly man flanked by well equipped and intimating men. He was a short man, bent with age and looking like he was ready to kick it at any minute, yet there seemed to be an aura of menace about him, something that just screamed power. "What?" croaked Anemone.

"Tactile telekinesis. You need to touch anything you wish to effect with your telekinesis…it seems to simulate superior strength, invulnerability, and even flight at its highest levels. That, my dear, is your gift. I see now that your talents have been wasted…I will train you to be my champion, so that you may help me CRUSH the fool Kessler and put a stop to his insane plans!" The old man's eyes lit with the fires of revenge and daresay madness. The very air seemed to hum with his power.

"I'll agree on only one condition…" replied Anemone, seemingly regaining what composure she could.

"Oh?" asked the old man, simultaneously annoyed and amused.

"Marco goes where I go. Also, your men keep their dirty hands off of me or I'll snap their necks." He said that her abilities simulated superior strength, so Anemone only assumed that neck-snapping laid within her possible repertoire of abilities.

"Those are two requests," replied the old man, eyes narrowing.

"Yes, I suppose they are, aren't they? Glad to see that you can still count in your advanced age," replied Anemone, narrowing her own eyes.

A few of the men around the old man shifted but they didn't make any movements towards her.

The old man smirked. "Requests granted. However," the man stretched his hand forward, palm opened. He made a crushing motion and Anemone felt a great pressure squeeze her chest. Breathing suddenly became difficult. She couldn't even gasp for breath as she fell over onto the ground, only able to let out a pitiful groan, "I'd like for you to speak to me with some measure of respect. I am your elder, I am your better. I decide whether you live or die and it would do you well to remember this lesson, young woman."

The old man released his grip and breathing suddenly became possible. Anemone lay on the ground, gasping for breath. She felt someone pulling her into their lap and found herself looking up at Marco.

"My name is Alden Tate and from this moment on I will be your teacher, your leader, your master."

The old man gave Marco a withering glare before he moved to limp past the two, his men following him. He paused, however, when he heard Anemone mumble something. He turned back to look at the girl, seeing that she was sitting up with Marco's help. "What was that?"

"I said…that my name is Anemone Fairchild and I will one day become your worst nightmare."

The man clenched his fist and gritted his teeth in an ugly snarl before the look transformed into an amused smirk. He chuckled. "I will break your youthful and rebellious spirit. You will become my tool, my weapon, and then I will discard you as all things used and damaged ought to be. Enjoy each breath that you take, little girl." The old man turned around and continued walking towards his towering edifice. Two of his guard detached from the main group and hovered over Anemone and Marco, obviously waiting to escort them back in.

Anemone stood with Marco's help and both walked back towards the tower that they'd just escaped from. Marco gave her a questioning look only once, obviously confused. Anemone couldn't meet his gaze, however; she didn't have any answers for him.

-**experientia docet** -

_experience teaches_

* * *

**_The Protector_**

Amir stretched and yawned quietly. He was tempted to fall back into his bed but instead emerged from underneath his covers, allowing for the chill of the room to hit him. He looked over at the other bed that occupied the room and the person who slept in it.

Gabriel.

In the few days that Amir knew him, the other male had managed to completely change Amir's perspective on life. Among other things, Gabriel's abilities certainly were a novelty (a gross understatement, but the only word Amir could think of to describe his feelings on the matter).

Amir still wasn't used to seeing Gabriel use his abilities and even suspected that he would always be amazed by said abilities, however it was seeing Gabriel's willingness and even enjoyment at helping others that really caught Amir's attention.

Together the two formed an effective and safe system to surreptitiously distribute food and water to individuals and families in need. It never amounted to much, but it was better than nothing. With the combined help of Doctor Silver and her medical team, they were capable of seeing to the sick and the injured. They were easing the suffering and helping their fellow man with what resources they had. Again, it wasn't much, but with Gabriel able to see to the worst case scenarios they were probably in the best position that anyone could ever hope for, outside of not actually being in such a situation in the first place.

Amir silently stumbled out of the dark bedroom and through the equally dark apartment. The bathroom was easy enough to find, since it had a lone candle to provide some manner of light. Amir started his morning routine, grateful that at least the water was still running. So what if it was cold? At least it was water, right?

As he took care of his morning hygiene his thoughts turned to Gabriel once more. For as powerful as he was…he was still in danger. The First Sons had wanted to capture him. They most likely wanted to study him, dissect him, treat him like a science experiment…

The thought simultaneously angered and terrified Amir. He rinsed his face clean and looked at his shadowy reflection. To think that he cared so strongly for someone that he knew for only a few days. The thought alone scared him.

Amir left the bathroom and navigated his way back to the bedroom. Dusky sunlight peeked in through the boarded up windows, indicating that the morning was officially beginning. Amir dressed quickly and quietly and looked once more at the sleeping Gabriel. Sleep left the normally reticent male unguarded and innocent.

"I can't lift cars over my head, I can't turn back time by flying around the world at the speed of light, hell I don't even have a cadre of gadgets and bad-ass martial arts to kick all kinds of ungodly ass. But…I promise that I will always protect you, Gabriel." Amir leaned down and kissed his forehead. The action was impulsive, yet it also felt right.

Amir backed away and looked down at his still sleeping companion for a few more minutes before leaving the room, ready to brave the horrors that had befallen Empire City. He didn't understand the whole situation, knew that there was more at work, but the only things that mattered were those who needed his help and Gabriel. As long as he worked to keep them safe, it would all work out.

-******sub tuum praesidium** -

_beneath thy compassion_

* * *

**_The Friend_**

Zeke knew that he had hit big. One his left, a busty brunette with a smile that could melt ice, on his right a breathtaking blonde who in spite of the grime and somewhat ratty clothing somehow managed to remain hot enough to be called _hawt_.

Sure, they were a little dirty. And while the brunette was pretty, Zeke wouldn't say she had a face that'd launch a thousand ships, but at least a dozen or so. And the blonde had an annoying laugh that reminded him of an automatic rifle (a sound he was, unfortunately, becoming well acquainted with as of late), but really he would never turn down some lovin' because of an annoying laugh. As far as Zeke was concerned, the easy part (talking to the girls, convincing them that he really knew _THE_ Cole McGrath) was over. He already got them to agree to head back to his pad…it was keeping them there that would be the difficult part.

See, the thing was he lied a little and promised them a secret meeting with the most talked about man in Empire City. Zeke figured that Cole was off doing his super-hero thing and was quite fine with that (not that he had anything against sharing, it was just Cole was still hung-up over Trish and, being the perceptive friend he was, Zeke realized that searching for new fish at the current point in time wouldn't be the wisest suggestion), however once the girls found out that there was no Cole they'd likely bail.

'_I have some drinks nice and chill…yeah, that'll keep them around, lay on a bit of the ole' Zeke charm, and BANG! Aww, yeah, Zeke's gonna have himself a real good time tonight. Err...today.'_

For now, Zeke was just keeping the girl's going with stories about embarrassing moments brought about by Cole's new powers. They weren't too far from the apartment, which was good since he was running out of stories.

"…and when I tossed him my gun all of the ammunition went off at once! Hoo-boy, you should'a seen the look on his face." Cue machine-gun laugh. Right on time the blonde rattled off her jarring laugh and her brunette friend smiled at Zeke as she latched onto his arm.

"Have I mentioned how insanely cool it is that you're best friends with the Terrorist?" she asked.

"Only for the last thirty minutes, Brittany," replied the blonde with a small laugh.

"Ahh, ladies, the C-man really doesn't like being called 'the Terrorist'," said Zeke, fiddling with his sunglasses a little, "Really didn't earn it either," he added, though this time in a barely audible murmur.

"Oh, yeah? But isn't that what the VoS said?" asked Brittany, obviously confused.

"Yeah, yeah, he showed that footage and EVERYTHING. I mean, I'm confused; why go through all the trouble of destroying a city and then…like…doing super-hero stuff?" replied the blonde, whose name still escaped Zeke.

"Awww, the Voice of Survival…he ain't nothin' but a dirty sonnuva bitch. Bad mouthin' Cole like that…"

"Awww, how nice! You're _such_ a loyal sidekick! Don't you think so, Roxanne?" asked Brittany.

A cold feeling washed through Zeke, but he smiled and laughed it off. "I'm not Cole's sidekick," he replied, pausing in front of an alleyway. He glanced around before gesturing to the girls to follow him.

"Oh? You aren't his sidekick? So, what, you don't have any powers?" asked Roxanne, looking suddenly disinterested.

Zeke, who was in the middle of moving aside junk he used to conceal his doorway, paused and turned back to the women. He lowered his glasses along the bridge of his nose and gave them his best charming grin. "Maybe if you behave yourself I'll give you two a secret demonstration."

Zeke turned away, grinning. He saw the quick excited look that the women shot each other. Oh yes, he definitely almost had them right where he wanted them. Sure, he lied about having abilities, but he'd deal with that all in due time. Zeke unlocked his door and held it open, making a grand gesture.

"After you."

The trip up the stairs was largely uneventful. It was filled with more flirting, more bullshitting. The more he thought about it, the more he figured that today was going to be a really good day. Two somewhat attractive women, his pad all to himself, cold drinks waiting for them…oh yes, it was all adding up to be quite a good day by his standards. Or any poor bastard's standards, especially considering the situation!

"Ok, ladies, prepare your eyes and remember the vow I made you two take earlier: not a word escapes your lips about what you two will witness. You're going to see what very few every will; our secret base of operations." Zeke spoke with a confiding whisper, doing his best to ham up the display. Brittany seemed to be going for it, grinning excitedly. Roxanne looked a little less impressed, however that was all good and gravy. Brittany was the one that he needed to win over. Of the two she was obviously the more adventurous and also the more persuasive; it was Brittany, after all, who dragged Roxanne along for the ride.

Zeke pushed open the door that led to the rooftop and walked out, holding his hands out wide. "Ta-da!"

"Oooooo!" cooed Brittany, taking in everything before spotting the ugly brown couch stationed right in front of the television. "Couch!" the brunette ran over and sat on the hideous piece of furniture and gave it a few tentative bounces before she looked over at Roxanne. "It's comfy!"

The blonde was examining the fences and barbed wire with a bored expression when she had turned to look at her grinning friend. "That's nice," she replied glibly before looking over at Zeke, "Overall, smart set up. Charred department store mannequins are a little creepy, though I see the point in having them here…makes one think that there's more people up here than what there actually are." Zeke grinned and opened his mouth to explain that it was his idea when Roxanne spoke again, "Of course any idiot who stares long enough will realize your ploy. So…meh."

The blonde passed Zeke and joined her friend on the couch, letting out a surprised exclamation about how comfy the couch was. Zeke gritted his teeth and gave the blonde an annoyed looked before he walked over to the cooler. He popped it open and grabbed a few cans of beer.

"Anyone up for drinks?"

Of course the thought of drinks was well received and soon all three were on the couch, watching random commercials on the boob-tube, knocking back a few drinks, and getting friendly. Well, at least he and Brittany were. Roxanne maintained her veiled bitchy comments. At first Zeke thought that it was just her way of being friendly but it slowly became obvious to the rotund male that she was, indeed, taking potshots at him.

It got to the point that Zeke had written her off as a lost cause; Brittany would be more than enough. He just needed to get rid of the problem…

"Cole can do this thing where he fires a ring of electricity that launches a person into the air and then he fries them while they're flying; we call that move the Devastator, cause ain't _no one_ coming back from that!"

"Oh wow, that's so cool!" exclaimed Brittany, grinning widely. Zeke grinned and lowered his sunglasses.

"You know, if you'd like, we could…get to know each other a little better." Brittany giggled and blushed as Zeke seductively waggled his eyebrows. The moment promised to be perfect, yet all it took to dissolve Zeke's mountain of preparation was undone by one question.

"So, what's your power exactly?"

"Um…wha-?" Zeke turned to look at Roxanne.

"Downstairs, you said if we were good that you'd show us your power…so, what is it?" she asked, though she already looked unimpressed, as if she knew what his answer would be. It was in that moment that Zeke came to a terrible realization. Roxanne was playing dumb blonde the whole time, waiting for just the right moment to call him on all his bullshit.

"Well, heh, you see the thing is…" Zeke grinned and laughed again, even as Roxanne narrowed her eyes.

"You actually don't have powers, do you? I mean, I'll admit that I've never seen anyone spew as much bullshit as you do, but that's hardly anything noteworthy."

"Ok, so I don't actually have powers…" started Zeke, but he could hardly get a word in edgewise.

"And I doubt that you even really know the Terrorist, do you?"

"Now I said not to call him that! I can't have you goin' around and slandering my good friend's name like that."

"Drop the act, Zeke. You're just a man hard up for company and a little bit of nookie. You aren't going to find it here, though," replied Roxanne, moving over to the door, "Come on, Brittany. We're out of here."

"Brittany, you don't have to go!"

The brunette gave Zeke an apologetic smile as she stood. "Sorry, but I was kind of excited to meet Cole. I mean, if you lied about having abilities and you're probably lying about knowing Cole, so I'm gonna split. It was really…nice meeting you though." Brittany left and Roxanne smirked at Zeke once more and winked at him.

"Thanks for the beer, though." The two women left. Zeke snorted and shook his head.

"Well…that could have gone much worse, I guess. At least I didn't get slapped this time."

-**videri quam esse** -

_to seem rather than to be_

* * *

_**The Healer**_

Gabriel recognized on some level that he was dreaming. It was the fact that he was walking into the Empire Building that tipped him off. From what he heard, the Empire Building had been destroyed. Yet here it was, good as new.

Gabriel was inside of the Empire Building. He had a meeting with the professor that he was studying under. Her office was located on the fourth floor of the Empire building. She was a middle-aged woman who looked her age and acted even older. Like most young adults, Gabriel had assumed that she knew very little about anything when he first met her. It was the prerogative of youth to place little value in the opinion of their elders. She quickly and effectively quashed that perception for him when, within the first five minutes of meeting him, she accurately dissected his personality.

She proceeded to tell him everything about himself; things he knew, things he didn't know, and things that he didn't want anyone to know. She didn't give him just a piece of humble pie but the whole thing. Since then he grew to respect and admire the woman whom he referred to as 'teacher' in the fullest sense possible.

She was, in many ways, more important to him than his own parents. The relationship between he and his teacher wasn't particularly parental. She was cold, distant, unflappable, and seemingly all knowing. Then again she was an expert in deception; capable of reading faces, glances, body motion, and even dissecting statements to such a degree that the truth was discerned whether freely given, disguised with lies, or even outright omitted.

"_I suppose that I should tell you…that you were my finest student. My protégé, if you will. I do not tell you this so that your ego will expand. I tell you this in hopes that you will continue my research. You are good at what you do…believe in yourself."_

It was so surprisingly out of character for the woman that Gabriel was struck speechless. To think that he actually had forgotten this. Then again, with the Blast and all of the confusion that it brought with it, no one could fault him for forgetting the conversation he had not even ten minutes before the Blast.

He went downstairs and was walking towards the exit, thinking about the next class when there was a blue flash from outside, the shattering of glass, the _pressure_ of the explosion.

"_Gabriel…"_ rasped the voice of his professor. Even time seemed to slow down, even as the blue light extended and _destroyed_ everyone and everything that it touched, leaving only silhouettes of skeletons before even _those_ were destroyed…

"_Gabriel…"_ even as the building crumbled around him and the light engulfed him…

"_Gabriel…"_ even as he started to glow with a green light, even as the building fell atop of him, shattering, smashing, suffocating…

Gabriel sat up with a gasp and took a few deep breaths before lying back onto his bed. Gabriel looked over at Amir's empty bed and for a brief moment felt relieved. So far he'd managed to keep his nightmares quiet. It had started a few days ago, the dreams of being trapped underground. He could remember it so vividly. Being trapped under so much weight, his body broken…it was terrifying to remember.

"Gabriel." The voice made him jump with surprise before he remembered the CB radio he'd tucked underneath his pillow. He pulled it from underneath his pillow and held down the call button.

"Good morning, Dr. Silver. Gabriel reporting in."

"We need you."

-**veritas curat** -

_truth cures_

* * *

**Author's Note:**

As a warning, some topics in this note may get (pseudo) scientific, so I apologize in advance.

So, first things first, I apologize if some of the characters seem a bit OOC. There are a couple of reasons for this, one being character interpretation. While the game presents characters in a certain way, how I imagine them might differ a little. Don't worry, I'm not going to have Cole skipping down the street singing about rainbows, Zeke isn't going to start playing classical music.

The reason why I see Cole as introspective is because his counterpart, Kessler, obviously hails from a scientific background. I've invested in the idea that in Kessler's timeline he (Kessler!Cole) discovered his abilities naturally and saw the scientific implications that his abilities had. Kessler!Cole _had_ to have some kind of scientific background for him to have such a large impact on the First Sons, for example. So, at his base Cole is a thinker, but in this case (that is, the current timeline) Cole is a thinker who is content with just thinking as opposed to experimenting, like a scientist would. Essentially, 'this' Cole is the philosopher to Kessler's scientist.

Plus, with Kessler going back in time this changes the course of history or, as I'd like to think, creates an alternate reality (the timeline that Kessler hails from still exists, however going through time and effecting it in ways large and small has created a whole new reality, akin to redirecting a river).

I didn't realize that I wanted to add Trish in until I started re-playing the game (to get myself in the right mindset). I realized that I was really interested in Trish's perspective. I probably haven't done the best job in the world, but I wanted to see a little more of Trish in the game but didn't get the chance, hence the magic of fanfiction (yay!). On top of that, I wanted to explore the character of Amy and I can do that through Trish so, that's why she's in there.

The second reason why characters may seem a little OOC is because I'm not a super-great writer, thus there may be some OOC-ness, but again I'm doing my best.

Now, the reason why this is an 'Interlude' is because this chapter focuses on a whole bunch of characters instead of just one. I wanted to focus on the canons a little bit, while also introducing a few new original characters that I want to get into the plot. So, while Gabriel is the main character there are others who also exist in this world and I wanted to slowly try to introduce some. Plus the Interludes are a good way to display the canons without turning this into a story about the canons; while the canons still are important in this world (and will feature in the main chapters as the story continues), like I stated earlier this is going to focus on the original characters a little more. This doesn't mean that Cole's journey still doesn't happen…it's just going to be, well, a little different.

And, I should take the time to mention that I love ensemble casts. Fortunately with this story I've restricted myself to a few characters; almost all of the characters of importance have been introduced by now, with a few more in the wings waiting to break out…I think. I could be wrong. So, yes, that's that.

On that note, let me know how I'm doing with my fic! Are the chapters too short, too long? Is the writing style too prosaic or is it just right? More action, less action? I'm going to keep writing, but the fun thing about fanfiction is that it can be a bit of a community project. Feedback helps me out a lot, so don't be shy to drop me a line. Constructive criticism is always welcome and flames will be used to warm my hot-coco.

**Update**: Went through, fixed a few mistakes, and yes the Latin phrases at the end of each little vignette is relevant to the character that each section pertains to.

**Update 5/26/11:** Provided translations for the Latin phrases.


	7. Foundlings, Pt 1

_**Chapter 5**_

_Foundlings, Part 1_

Vanessa Martinez flickered into existence in a display of purple light. She looked around, seeing the surroundings that she'd pictured in her mind. The spacious courtyard, the ground overlaid with red brick, the wrought iron fence; it was her school's playground. Somehow amidst all of the destruction, the school playground remained relatively untouched.

The young girl ran over towards the building, seemingly not weighed down by the bulging backpack she hefted behind her. Ever since discovering her abilities, she felt more…durable. The bookbag was still heavy, but it didn't really hurt her to carry it.

She stopped in front of the cafeteria doors and glanced around. The doors were locked and barricaded from the inside, but that proved very little trouble for her. She simply closed her eyes and pictured the cafeteria and there was that familiar surge of energy, that now-familiar sense of her very being transforming into energy and then…pop! She was inside of the building. The cafeteria was dimly lit and empty. She removed her hat and stuffed it into her pocket as she trotted through the empty room and out into the also dim hallway.

It was a short trip to the main office. She let herself inside but slowed down when she heard voices coming from the principal's personal office. Silent as a cat, she crept towards the door.

"Damn it, Maggie, I can't believe that you let people in this building after I _explicitly _informed you and the other staff that I didn't want _anyone_ in, save the parents of the children should they arrive to collect their kids."

Maggie. That would be Miss Margaret, the school nurse. And the speaker was none other than the principal himself, Frank Butler. He was angry; Vanessa heard that tone of voice plenty of times before, usually after a fight that she had gotten into or a prank that was somehow traced back to her.

"What would you have me do, Frank?" retorted Maggie, "Leave them in the cold, alone? Starving?"

"It's a sad thing, yes, but we can't let just anyone in here! We have children to take care of and hardly enough resources to go around! Any food we have must be split between them and don't even get me started on the sickos that you might accidentally let in here that'll take advantage of one of our kids."

"Oh, Frank, I really don't believe…not at a time like this."

"Oh yes, and there's a good time for that sort of thing? Open your eyes, Margaret! Society has fallen apart! This is _exactly_ the kind of situation where all the predators of society _thrive_! State of emergency notwithstanding, it is our duty to see to the safety of these children," replied Frank. Vanessa could imagine him, red-faced, blue eyes standing out against his flushed skin, his head and neck bulging as if his tie was tied just a little too tight…the image brought an amused grin to the ten-year-old's face.

"Protecting our students? Is that what you call it when you send that girl out into the city, searching for food and medicine?"

Vanessa frowned; she _hated_ it when people treated her like a kid. She pushed the door open and glared at Miss Maggie. The short woman looked over at the girl in sudden surprise. Mister Frank, on the other hand, gave Vanessa a passing glance, as if he'd already known she was there.

"Hey, it's nothing that I can't handle, Miss Maggie! Besides, his permission is only…uh…what's the word?"

"A courtesy?" suggested Mister Frank.

"Yeah, that's it! A courtesy. Cuz I'd just do it anyways, with or without his permission. Or any other adult's permission. So, give the poor guy some slack, huh?" Vanessa dropped her backpack on the ground before tossing herself into one of the comfy seats that was situated in front of her principal's desk. Oh yes, she'd been in the 'Hot Seat' plenty of times and actually found it relaxing. Miss Maggie scoffed and simply shook her head.

"Show some respect, Miss Martinez," chided Mister Frank. He raised his eyebrows when Vanessa sat back and placed her feet on his desk. "Even though society is falling apart, that does not mean that we abandon our manners, young woman." Vanessa frowned, but silently removed her feet. The bald man grinned before looking over at the school nurse, who was still glaring at him. The withering glare she was giving him immediately killed the short-lived grin.

"As much as I hate to admit it, Vanessa is right. She is very strong willed…she'd do it on her own, in secret, and we'd probably be none the wiser. At least this way we are aware of what she's doing. And, she's only trying to help."

"As am I. I cannot stand idle and be at peace with myself, knowing that I could have at least offered someone shelter. And besides, it turned out that one of the parents of the children was in the group that I let in. It might stretch food a little, I'll allow, but…we aren't going to survive this crisis by turning our backs on our fellows. Besides, a few parents had stopped by and collected their kids…who knows, maybe a few more will do the same?"

Vanessa frowned as she thought about the Terrorist. He was _such_ a punk…it was almost hard to believe that _that_ man blew up a portion of Empire City and killed so many people in the process, her parents included. Her parents worked in the Historical District…that was where the bomb went off. They were dead…

The strange thing about the Terrorist was that he was like her…well, kind of. He had super-powers. Like any proper ten year old, Vanessa was well versed into the world of comic books. Thus, when she discovered her abilities she knew that it was called teleportation. And that the Terrorist had electrokinesis. And that the Reapers had some kind of teleportation, but theirs was weaker. Hers was _much_ better than theirs.

Mister Frank sighed tiredly; Vanessa knew that sound too. He made a similar sound when she successfully argued her point as to why she should be allowed to use her abilities to help out. He was giving in.

"Very well. Just…don't turn this into a shelter of some sort. We have our children to think of." The nurse glanced at Vanessa and gave the principal a meaningful look before she turned and left.

Vanessa turned and watched the woman go before turning to face Mister Frank with a sigh and a roll of her eyes. The man merely raised his eyebrows and shrugged. "She's right. I really shouldn't be allowing you to—"

"Save it," replied the girl, holding out a hand as if to stop him, "We've already had this discussion. You couldn't stop me if you tried. Really. Like, I'd be gone. Like that." Vanessa snapped her fingers to demonstrate. Frank sighed once more and rolled his eyes.

"And you are right. Well…what did you find?" Vanessa picked up her backpack and dumped its contents onto the man's desk.

"Lots of canned goods. So, we're having baked beans for a while. Also, found some medicine. It looks like some pretty basic stuff, but maybe it'll calm Nurse Complains-A-Lot down for a little while." Vanessa chose not to mention her encounter with the Terrorist. He was nothing that she obviously couldn't handle on her own and, besides, it would only make Mister Frank worried and Miss Maggie would just nag some more.

She also opted not to mention the glowing blue rocks that she'd found. Those were her little secret. She already managed to find a few and with each one she found she felt that she could 'port a little further, for a longer period of time. The glow usually disappeared after she held them long enough but she was more than willing to find more if it meant an increase in her abilities. "Is that all?" she asked her principal.

"Yes, that'll be all, Miss Martinez…I think some of your friends were asking about you earlier. Relax for the night." The principal gave Vanessa a warm smile. The young girl gave the middle-aged man a wave before leaving.

Frank Butler sighed and gently massaged his forehead. He looked down at the picture of him and his wife. It was taken a year ago, during their anniversary. They had looked so…_happy_. She had died earlier in the year, cancer. He was grief stricken but continued on. Perhaps the only good thing that came of the Blast was that his wife wasn't alive to suffer through the horrors of the city.

'_What has the world come to when adults need to rely on the strength of children?'_ he thought, looking at the canned goods that populated his desk. _'What has the world come to where one man can terrorize an entire city?'_

**-unknown-**

Nurse Margaret (Nurse Maggie to the kids, 'Margaret' to her colleagues) walked down the hallway, her face carefully blank. _"So that was the little bitch whose been causing my beloveds so much trouble,"_ whispered a voice in her mind, _"She also had the audacity to hurt MY Cole! I think I'm going to teach her a lesson."_ She'd been hearing 'the voice' for a week now. At first she just thought that it was stress, but slowly she's been hearing more and more of the voice. It whispered at the most unusual moments, it whispered to her in the night, keeping her awake for hours on end, leaving her exhausted and confused in the morning. Slowly the voice was chipping away at her sanity, like dirty ragged finger nails scratching at old paint. Even so, the voice made her feel connected to something outside of herself, like something larger. With each passing day it was becoming more and more tempting to just let go…but let go of what? And where would the fall take her?

Yet at the same time she noticed that she's been having random black outs, losing up to an hour of time some days. She never knew what she did in those times…it was beginning to worry her. For example, she never recalled letting anyone into the school. The argument with Frank Butler had a dream-like quality to it because, even though she had no memory of letting anyone into the school, she had felt a compelling urge to defend her actions, feeling that she was absolutely _right_ in doing something that she didn't even recall doing in the first place!

Nurse Margaret had a sudden coughing fit. It was one of such force that she almost fell over but was caught by someone. When she finally looked up she saw that it was one of the men who was part of the group that she had apparently let in earlier. He was tall and thin, almost sickly so. His eyes were sunken in and bloodshot. The most distinctive thing about him wasn't any of his physical features, however. It was the weird oily feeling that invaded Margaret's mind. The feeling sluggishly ran down her back, causing for her to shudder.

The voice in her head chuckled.

"I just wanted to thank you again for letting us in. Your kindness is a rare treasure."

Nurse Margaret nodded uncertainly and bit out a brief "You're welcome," before hurrying down the hallway. She could feel his eyes on her back, could feel the _slimy_ feeling that he gave her.

**-unknown-**

Vanessa performed the secret knock (one knock, two quick knocks, one knock, two more knocks) before opening the door to what was formerly the room where most of the Art classes had taken place. Most of the kids and teachers had taken refuge in the gym, but Vanessa and her friends were able to sequester themselves away from the rest. Now the room served as refuge for her small circle of friends.

"'Nessa!" greeted the youngest member of their group, a little girl that everyone called Fox. Neither Vanessa nor her friends recognized the girl and any of the teachers that were left didn't know her either and whenever asked about her name she would smile and say that she was a fox, so the name stuck. The fact that her hair was a bright shade of orange and her eyes a mischievous green helped make the name stick.

"Hey, pest," replied Vanessa with an affectionate smile before reaching into her large jacket pocket and tossing a candy bar at the girl, "present for you." The small girl caught the candy bar and seemingly within seconds her previously clean face was marred by chocolate.

"Great, thanks a lot, it only took me forty minutes to get her to hold still today to clean her face off!" complained a girl around Vanessa's age and height, but blond, blue-eyed, and fair-skinned.

"Whatever. I'd like to see you complain about this," replied Vanessa, reaching into her pocket and handing the blond a few tubes of lip gloss. Immediately the surly frown melted from the girl's face as a more appropriate smile replaced it. The girl snatched up the lip gloss with a squee of joy and danced from foot to foot.

"Oh, thank you girl! AND you got the expensive stuff! Hehehe!" Vanessa smiled but rolled her eyes at her friend's overreaction.

"Great job, Vanessa. Now that you've got Nicky started she'll _never_ shut up," complained another voice. The boy, taller than both Vanessa and Nicky, had moved to stand near the desk that Fox was sitting on. He rubbed the little girl's head, earning a chocolate smile and a small giggle. "Isn't Nicky such a girl? Say that Nicky's such a girl, Fox."

"Icky's a girl!" said Fox before laughing. The boy chuckled.

"Shut up, Fred! You shouldn't encourage her to say that…" replied Nicky, blushing despite her glare.

Vanessa reached into her pocket once more and pulled out a bag of Twizzler's. "Now that wasn't very nice. And to think, I went through all the trouble of getting these Twizzlers for you…guess you really don't want these."

Upon seeing the Twizzlers Fred's eyes widened. "I take it back! Icky's not a girl!" said the boy.

Nicky nodded, mollified for all of three seconds before she realized what the other boy had called her. "Hey!"

Vanessa laughed and tossed the back of Twizzlers to Fred. "You made me laugh. You earned your treat."

"Hey," whined Nicky, "You aren't supposed to be encouraging that."

Vanessa shrugged and rolled her eyes. "Sorry, _chica_. You know I love a good joke." Vanessa shrugged out of her jacket and tossed it to a nearby table. She shook her hair out before gathering it into a ponytail. Without the jacket, hat, and attitude, Vanessa actually looked like an average preteen.

"So, did you run into any Reapers?" asked Fred.

"Yup, I ran into a few…" replied the young girl noncommittally.

"Were they dangerous?" asked Nicky, eyes wide.

"Well, _yeah_. They're relentless, cruel thugs, with insanely good aim and they tease their victims with some kind of garbled, demonic tongue," Vanessa's voice took on the kind of inflection that only a story-teller could give. She was so expressive, in both her body language and facial expression, easily drawing in her small audience. Nicky listened intently and held Fox's hand when the little girl sidled over and grabbed the older girl's hand for comfort. "Some people say that they're drug addicts and gang members trying to take the streets, but I discovered the truth tonight. They're actually demons, awakened from their infernal slumber by the Blast, operating at the whim of the Terrorist, whom they only know as Master."

"Liar," replied Fred, the same haughty smirk on his face, though the troubled look in his eyes belied what he truly felt.

"Oh, it's no lie, Fred. While I don't know what's completely fact or fiction, I do know that the Reapers ain't human and they for damn sure ain't drug addicts. Besides, tonight I met something worse than the Reapers."

"What? What could be worse than the Reapers?" squeaked Nicky.

Vanessa hid a smirk, "The Terrorist himself. And I _fought_ him!"

The story continued into the night, Vanessa thrilling and terrifying her friends, enjoying the role both as actor and story-teller, but most of all she enjoyed the ability to temporarily distract her friends from the horror that became their daily lives.

**-unknown-**

Amir walked out onto the roof and took a moment to take in the fall sunset. The beauty of the sunset was in blatant juxtaposition with the ruined skyline of the city. Amir over looked at Gabriel and couldn't help the small smile that formed. The caramel skinned male was working at the table that they had jokingly referred to as his work station. It was, after all, where he went to whenever he wanted to work on something.

At the moment the long table was lit by a lone electric lantern and cluttered with a variety of vitamins as well as a host of herbs, spices, and chopped up vegetables and fruits. Gabriel was mixing a brown-ish concoction. Egg-shells, an open and nearly empty bag of flour, a mini-muffin pan, and a microwave oven (hooked up to the small generator), testified to the fact that he was planning on baking his little mixture.

"It's getting kind of cold out here," remarked Amir, grinning a little nervously. It's been about two weeks since the Blast, therefore two weeks since Amir and Gabriel 'met'. Objectively it wasn't a terribly long time since they met, but strange circumstances had a way of dilating time. He felt like more time than two weeks had passed. Even with that in mind, he always felt a little nervous when speaking to Gabriel. It wasn't nervousness born of fear, but nervousness born of…

"Adjusting my internal body temperature and decreasing temperature related sensory input makes the cold easy to neglect," replied Gabriel without looking up.

"Ah, of course," replied Amir, as if he was thinking exactly the same thing. "So, what exactly are you working on?"

"Something to give me an extra boost of energy whenever I hit my power limit."

"But I thought you said that you felt like your limits were expanding?" asked Amir, moving closer to the table.

"My limits are expanding," replied Gabriel without looking up. He started spooning some of the brown mixture into the mini-muffin trays. "The thing is, my limits still exist. When I'm healing people or making alterations to my body it doesn't seem to drain me as quickly as it used to…however, when I'm in battle I'm still faced with limitations. While I've done what I could to decrease those limitations, having a little pick me up during combat would be useful."

Amir glanced over the ingredients once more before nodding. "Do you think it's going to work?"

"Maybe. This is only the first of a few recipes that I've cooked up," Gabriel paused briefly, "pun unintended."

"Cool, cool," replied Amir, glancing around awkwardly. Gabriel popped the tray into the toaster oven and turned it to the appropriate temperature. After he grabbed his frog-shaped timer and setting it, Gabriel glanced at Amir and could tell that he wanted to say something but for one reason or another seemed to be having trouble.

"So, how have you been lately?" asked Gabriel, turning to give Amir his full attention.

Amir was about to reply but finally noticed the green apron that the conduit was wearing, completely with shoulder frills and caption reading 'Kiss The Cook' surrounded by pink hearts. "Um…?" he pointed at the apron and raised an eyebrow, trying hard not to grin.

Gabriel looked confused and glanced down at his apron before looking back up at Amir. "What? Is there something wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"Nothing, really," replied Amir before he chuckled a little, "You just didn't strike me was type to like frills."

"It was a gift from my sister, her way of being funny I suppose. I'm actually ambivalent about the frills," replied Gabriel, still looking a little confused, "in all honesty I wasn't even concerned about the frills when I put it on; it is the apron's utility to keep my clothes clean while I cook, a job that it does well, might I add." Gabriel noticed that he was a tad defensive about an apron of all things and felt a little silly. Amir's amused grin certainly didn't help matters "Anything additional is inconsequential."

"That's a shame, then," replied Amir as his smile faded, sounding gravely serious as he stared intently at Gabriel.

"Why is that?" asked the conduit, suddenly feeling a little nervous…he knew that look on Amir's face, but he'd seen it come from someone else, a long time ago.

"Because, I was hoping to get a kiss from the cook." A rare look of honest surprise crossed Gabriel's face before he looked away. When he looked back Amir was suddenly a lot closer. Gabriel stepped back and tripped over a small plastic crate and, in his panic, grabbed onto the first thing he could think of, which was Amir.

Already off balance from leaning forward, Amir was not much help stopping his and Gabriel's fall to the ground. The two stared quietly at each other before Amir started to laugh. The laughter proved infectious and soon Gabriel was laughing too. Their laughter served to break the tension but didn't do anything for the awkward silence that followed.

"Um…I wanted to ask you something," said Amir, hazel eyes carefully examining Gabriel's face.

"Yes?" asked Gabriel, wondering why he was still underneath Amir, wondering what Amir was going to ask him, partly hoping that Amir would kiss him, partly hoping that he wouldn't. Gabriel wondered why he hadn't pushed Amir off of him by now, but Gabriel was too honest with himself for the question to remain unanswered for too long: because, even though a significant part of him didn't want to, he enjoyed the proximity…

'_But remember the last time…the last time you let yourself get close to someone. How you gave him your heart and he was reckless with it? You know that relationships born from intense and desperate circumstances are doomed to fail…tell him no! Right now! GET UP!'_

But…he couldn't. Or wouldn't…didn't want to…

"I-I wanted to ask…" started Amir, his eyes darkening as he looked at Gabriel's lips, "…if you wouldn't mind…if I…"

"Yes?" asked Gabriel again. He could knock grown men clear across a room, take bullets without pausing, heal the most grievous of wounds…but he couldn't even stop a guy from kissing him, or stop himself from giving into his own desires. It was pathetically weak…

"If I could…if I could fix up a CB radio I found."

"What?" asked Gabriel, blinking in surprise. Amir sat up and got off of Gabriel, turning away so that Gabriel wouldn't see his face.

"Yeah. I found it in one of the apartments…the person who lived there kind of had a few emergency rations set up and a CB radio was in there. It's broken…but I think that I can fix it. I already know what parts need to be replaced and where I can get them at. I was thinking…maybe we could get in contact with the other portions of the city. Find out who's still alive out there."

Gabriel felt equal parts disappointed and relieved that things had taken such an abrupt and decidedly non-romantic direction. "Sure, you can…repair the CB radio. By all means."

Amir stood and offered a hand to Gabriel; the healer ignored the offered hand, standing on his own and turning to the microwave oven.

"Alright. Also! The place that I need to get the parts from, it's kind of surrounded by the First Sons, so…"

Gabriel looked at Amir and nodded. "Right. I'll help out. Is early tomorrow morning good?" he asked, all business now.

"Y-yeah! Good, then tomorrow morning it is. See you then…" Amir backed away and headed back into the apartment building. Gabriel watched him go and continued to stare at the closed door until the ringing of the frog-shaped timer caught his attention.

**-unknown-**

_Vanessa appeared in a flash of purple light. Before she could even comprehend that she was in mid air she was already falling towards the ground, landing quite ungracefully in a pile of rubble, water slapping the ground around her. _

_It was only a few days since she discovered her abilities, only a few days since the Blast. The principal wanted all of the kids to stay indoors and wait for their parents to arrive, but Vanessa was always good at breaking the rules. She used her abilities to teleport away from the school…to the bridge leading from the Neon to the Warren was, or should have been. _

_Instead of a bridge, there was…nothing. The bridges were up. No way across but to swim, or teleport._

_So teleport she did. Only to pop out over the river. There were two deep dark secrets that Vanessa held close to her heart: once in third grade she stole another girl's hair-band because she liked (but was too scared to wear it so she kept it hidden, to this day), the other secret being that she could not swim and was deathly afraid of water. _

_She fell into the river and splashed around desperately before going under. She thought about her parents as she sank, thought about her home, thought about…not being underwater…_

_In a flash she was gone and landing in an unfamiliar place. She stood from the wet rubble and looked around. There were still a few fires, even days after the Blast. Vanessa wandered a few feet, soaking wet, confused, scared. She shivered; this fall promised to be a cold one and it was already starting. She tripped over something, scuffing her knee and cutting her palm in the process of falling._

_When she gathered herself, curiosity bade her to look at what she tripped over. It was a cornerstone, with numbers on it. They read_ 457…

_It was then that she realized she was looking at what remained of the apartment that used to be her home. It was completely obliterated…her parents with it…_

"_No…" she cried in a way that she hadn't done since she was a young child._

_A pile of rubble moved aside as a bloody, grotesquely injured hand reached out towards the air. A bloody and ruined body lifted itself out of the rubble. Vanessa turned to look at the shambling figure. It was…_

…_her mother._

Vanessa sat up with a gasp. She was sweating yet at the same time felt cold. For a brief moment she felt fear's icy chill when the darkness around her proved unrecognizable. This wasn't her room! She wasn't home! She-!

"I…like the…sparkly tacos…" mumbled Fred from beside her. Vanessa felt herself slowly start to relax. She was at school, in the gymnasium, with all of the other kids. While it left little to be said about privacy, it made sense that Mister Frank wanted all of the kids in one place. It made it easier for the teachers to keep an eye on them, made it generally safer, really. They all slept on sleeping bags that Vanessa managed to gather up and there were small battery operated lanterns left in various spots to assuage the fears of the younger kids but dimmed low enough that it didn't disturb anyone's sleep.

Vanessa looked down at her small group of friends. Nicky and Fox were cuddled together, with Fox sucking her thumb. On the other side of Fox, right next to Vanessa, was Fred. Vanessa made sure that they were still asleep before she reached for her shoes and crept away from her small group's sleeping spot.

Taking care not step on anyone, the young teleporter made her way to the locker room, waving briefly to the dozing teacher who was on door duty. "Potty break," whispered Vanessa, as if she needed to explain. The woman nodded before silently yawning, waving the girl inside.

Vanessa paused long enough inside the locker room to put on her shoes before she took the locker room exit that led away from the gym. She paused in the dark hallway and leaned against the cool wall and covered her face.

The images from her dream haunted her.

"Hey!" Vanessa jumped and turned to face a familiar lanky figure approaching from the doorway of the boy's locker room.

"Keep it down, will ya, or do you want us to get caught?" she hissed, glaring at the sheepish grin that Fred shot her.

"Sorry. I was wondering where you were heading, is all."

"Um, hello? Bathroom?"

"Right…since when do you need your shoes to go to the bathroom?"

"Uh…" Vanessa paused, caught off guard by Fred's unexpected logic, "the floors are dirty?" she offered, albeit weakly.

"And the bathrooms are back there…unless they were moved to the hallways without anyone telling me," answered Fred, smug and for good reason; it wasn't everyday that someone managed to best Vanessa in a verbal battle. He won and he _knew_ it. Vanessa wanted to punch the smug smirk off of his face but instead she opted for simply rolling her eyes and huffing loudly.

"Fine, you got me. I was…sneaking up to the roof."

"Oh?" asked Fred, smug satisfaction giving way to naked curiosity, "What for?"

Vanessa glanced at Fred before looking away, at something that wasn't there. "To clear my head."

"Want company?"

Vanessa looked back at Fred and despite how angry, alone, and _frightened_ she felt, she managed a small, hesitant smile. "Sure."

"Cool! Hey, do you think you could…?"

"Yeah, sure," replied Vanessa, already intuiting what Fred was going to ask. Without even thinking she reached forward to grab Fred's hand (fortunately it was too dark for her to see the blush that raced across his face like wildfire) and in an instant the two disappeared in a flash of purple light.

They reappeared on the roof. "You know, no matter how many times you do it, I can't get over how—"

"Much of a freak I am?" asked Vanessa as she started walking to the edge of the roof, attempting to finish Fred's thought. Her inflection was to indicate she was making light of her status of residential superhero. The principal tried to keep her abilities under wraps but it was the worst kept secret in the history of PS 119 as far as Vanessa was concerned. All the kids knew, all the teachers knew. Most of the kids regarded her as a superhero, some of the adults had opposing views. It was odd, unusual, unrealistic…plus they saw what kind of horrific acts that the supers that ran with the Reapers were capable of. The fact that a portion of her abilities mirrored theirs made a few of them worry.

Still, she supplied most of their goods and what little amenities one could hope to find in a city isolated from the world and falling apart with each day. That fact alone kept them from voicing their opinions…to her face. But she heard their whispered conversations, knew that they considered her to be…a freak.

"Uh, no? I was going to say how cool it is that you can do that," replied Fred, smiling before looking confused. "Why would you be a freak? I mean, I'm the luckiest kid alive to be best buds with Empire City's very own superhero. Freak you are not; that still belongs to Harry Betts who has our school's highest booger eating record, two years running."

Vanessa wrinkled her nose before laughing. "You're right," replied Vanessa, stopping to sit on the edge of the roof, letting her legs dangle over.

"Well, duh! Else I wouldn't have said so," Fred sat next to her and the kids looked out at the city. It was early morning probably, late enough for it to still be dark but the sky was clear and the moon was bright. Without most of the city lights obscuring the view, the sky looked beautiful. The two preteens sat in complete silence. A portion of the city was lit, but it wasn't their portion, so they still had a clear view.

"So, why did you need to come out here to clear your head?" asked Fred eventually. "Bad dream?"

Vanessa opened her mouth, ready to tell the boy to mind his own business but hesitated. "Yeah…you can kind of say that. It was more like a memory, really," she said finally. She explained the dream that she had, ending at the zombie-mom part.

"So…your mom is a…you know, zed-word?"

"_That_ was the dream part, goof."

"Ahhh…"

"I guess…the dream just made me feel very alone."

"Well, that's not true. You being alone, I mean…I mean, you have me, Nicky, and Fox. We aren't your blood but…we're kind of like family, right? I'll always have your back, if you always have mine because if you always have mine then I'll always be there to have yours."

Vanessa turned and stared at Fred. The boy looked away in an attempt to hide his blush. "You know, I don't think that made a lot of sense…but I get you. Thanks, Fred." Vanessa punched the boy's shoulder and the two laughed.

-**unknown-**

If it was one thing that having super-powers taught Gabriel, it was that three-thirty in the morning was still just too damn early. Then again he didn't get much sleep. His mind proved just how cruel it could be. It kept replaying the moment on the roof with Amir and wondered what it meant. Well…obviously Amir was interested in him and obviously he felt the same, or similar, about Amir. The question was…where did they go from there?

'_Why are you even considering this? It would be foolish to even…'_

"So, let's go over the plan again," said Gabriel, checking the pouches on his cargo pants, ensuring that he had the freshly baked energy supplements. He found a pair of fingerless gloves and pulled them on.

"Come on, Gabe, really? It's pretty simple."

"I know, but I just want to be careful," replied Gabriel as he pulled on a pair of fingerless gloves.

"Right…you take down the one in the alleyway, I break into the shop, you take out the ones on the roof…simple. Cake. Why are you so worried?" asked Amir, "If anything happens, you can likely heal the damage."

"That's no reason for us to be reckless. But, you are right. It is a simple plan…lets go."

The two darted out of the alleyway they hid in and made it across the street in record time, unseen. Ducking into the alley next to the shop, Gabriel took the lead and turned the corner, charging full speed into the surprised First Son agent. Gabriel landed on top, but the man rolled over, putting himself on top.

He reached for a knife but before he could do anything else Gabriel reached up and touched the man's neck; immediately he could feel the man's lifeforce, his nerves, his cells, his blood…Gabriel concentrated and the man fell over, unconscious. Gabriel stood and peaked around the corner, where Amir was already working on the lock.

Gabriel crouched, tensed his legs, fed power to his limbs and leaped to the top of the building in one bound.

He grabbed onto the ledge and flipped over, throwing himself at the guard on top. Gabriel realized belatedly that there was something odd about this agent, namely the fact that he was physically larger and hunched back. The real difference, however, was when a purple humanoid aura appeared around the man, lifting him into the air and exuding an aura of power.

-**unknown-**

The door to the roof opened and both of the kids turned to see Principal Frank stepping out onto the roof.

"Um…we can totally explain this," said Fred, standing.

"I don't even want to hear it," replied the old man, walking to the edge of the roof, "I enjoy looking at the night sky myself," he replied, looking down at the kids, smiling warmly. The smile was short lived however. "Though the two of you really shouldn't be out this late, however, it isn't safe."

"_Nothing_ is safe, Mister Frank," groused Vanessa, rolling her eyes, "in case you haven't noticed, the world's gone to hell."

"Language young lady," corrected the elderly man, but he didn't argue her point. The city had gone to hell. The trio sat outside, staring up at the sky before a noise caught Vanessa's attention. She looked down to see a bunch of hooded figures approaching the school. The dingy red hoods with the occasional flash of white in the midst caught her attention.

"Oh, shit!" she whispered as she scampered away from the edge of the roof and dragged Fred back with her.

"What is it?" asked Frank, for the first time not correcting Vanessa's language.

Vanessa tried not to sound worried when she replied but she failed when she uttered, "Reapers."

-**unknown-**

Gabriel grunted in plain as he was slapped backwards in mid-flight and tumbled through the air, his fall broken by a large AC unit located on the building parallel to the one he was just on. The machine creaked noisily even as Gabriel fell and grasped onto a window ledge.

_'Concussive damage: minimal. Healing…'_

The AC unit groaned again. The loud noise it would make upon hitting the ground would bring more First Sons. Gabriel reached out with his free hand and grabbed a portion of the AC unit as it fell past. Gabriel clenched his eyes shut and focused on fortifying and strengthening his body. He pulled his legs up and pushed off of the building, throwing himself into the air, carrying the blocky device with him.

His flight took him well over the gap between the two buildings and, as his trajectory was about to take him over the First Son conduit, he threw the AC unit at the glowing figure. The impromptu projectile seemed to have met resistance but struck the figure in its center. The purple aura flickered red before it dispersed even as the machine shattered.

Gabriel landed in a crouch and dashed towards the slowly standing conduit. Gabriel was on top of him while the man was only kneeling and, being the polite gentleman he was, he introduced his knee to the mask-covered man's chin with thunderous force that sent the conduit skidding across the length of the roof.

Gabriel rushed towards the man and drew his fist back as green electricity sparked around his fist. "Bioshock," he whispered, fulfilling an absurd desire to name his technique. The conduit stood and spread out both hands. A purple energy sphere erected around him just before Gabriel's fist could contact him. The kinetic force of the attack was rebounded back to him, sending him flying.

Gabriel tumbled as he hit the roof; getting hit with the force of his own blow was not a good feeling but soon his head cleared and as he stood the other conduit erected its humanoid construct. "Time to wrap this up," muttered Gabriel, rushing towards the construct. It lifted its foot to stomp down on Gabriel, but it missed as Gabriel dodged and pushed himself into a powerful leap, sinking his fist into the gut of the conduit and sending the hapless man flying.

While Gabriel's upward momentum was largely transferred to the conduit, he had enough to land on the adjacent building. Gabriel looked up at the falling conduit and was about to give chase when a sound reached his ears. He looked back down into the alley in time to see a few First Sons entering into the open side door of the electronics shop.

The fear he felt was alarming and almost paralyzing. He leaped down into the alley and landed in a crouch. Even as he stood he suddenly became aware of a lifeforce to his right. He reacted with little thought, holding out his right hand as if to shield himself from the shotgun blast that all but obliterated his arm.

**-unknown-**

**Author's Corner** –

So sorry for taking so long to update! This chapter was much longer than others and eventually I just decided to separate it into two separate chapters. As a result, the next chapter is already partway through and so should be up relatively soon.

Now, to answer a question that **Infinite-Bit** had, Gabe's abilities are influenced by a number of things, Elixir of X-Men fame being but one. Essentially, his abilities has biological manipulation as its base (similar to how Cole's abilities is, at its basic, the manipulation of electricity) however he will eventually learn how to use his abilities in a variety of ways.

I hope to increase the pacing of this story, since I know that Infamous 2 is coming out soon (squee!) however even with that in mind, I did have at least two small stories that I wanted to write before the events of Infamous 2 happen (and of course I have to play the game and bask in its sheer awesomeness…errr…I mean, get ideas for my adaption of that), so, yes. Also, even though Vanessa is Hispanic and speaks Spanish I am just too lazy for my own good to have her throwing around gratuitous Spanish. My apologies.

Anyways, thank you everyone for reading and reviewing so far! I hope to hear from more of you in the future!


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